The Trash Pandas are striking out in exactly one-third of their plate appearances. Slugging percentage is down significantly, from. Walks are at a 12.5 percent rate, up 2 percent from the year prior. That’s up from 24.9 percent from all of last season and about 27.5 percent from this point last year. Southern League batters were striking out at a 30 percent clip entering play Wednesday. We’re still taking guys from Double A to the big leagues. They thought Double A was the best spot, I don’t know. It’s just the way we’re implementing things. “Spin rates and vertical and horizontal numbers … they’re out of sight. “If you look at the numbers and pitch shapes, they’re out of sight,” Angels manager Phil Nevin said. Some are also curious as to why the experimentation would take place in Double A, a level so close to the major leagues.

He added that there was “no shot” MLB ends up using these balls. “After the first game, we were like, ‘There’s no way these balls last the first half, or even past a week,’” said Angels shortstop Zach Neto, who played seven games in Double A before his call-up. Now, there’s a new complicating factor in Rocket City.īeyond concern over batters getting hurt, players and the front office alike are concerned about the impact this enhanced grip ball will have on development. The team preferred to have its top prospects housed in Double-, in part because their Triple-A affiliate is located in high altitude. The Angels are particularly concerned with this new ball, which will be used throughout the first half of the Southern League season. MLB declined to reveal the makeup of the new substance. The ball is also supposed to be brighter, thus aiding hitters.

The new baseball is coated in a sticky substance that’s supposed to make it tackier, and easier for pitchers to grip. Pitchers are having a hard time controlling the new Southern League Experimental Baseballs! Hit batters are at a all time high! /SyPxmN8Twe I don’t want someone to get hurt and then it becomes a big topic.” “When we step out on the field, we’re all competitors. “It’s talked about every day in the locker room,” said Kyren Paris, an Angels Double-A prospect. And hitters are watching pitches with ridiculous movement that are harder to hit than ever. MLB is experimenting with a new baseball.

That’s life in the Southern League right now.

The angel experiment