Deader ball.


All sorts of questions pop up as the Rangers make their way to Surprise, Arizona, for spring training.

One question is, how will the new ball affect Joey Gallo?

Here’s a guy who already got it into his head that he cannot hit a home run in the cavernous The Shed (even though that wasn’t a problem for any of the teams that played there during the playoffs and World Series)

A slightly deader ball will only feed into Gallo’s insecurities more.

MLB announced the new ball to be used for 2021 will fly roughly one to two feet shorter on balls hit over 375 feet. That’s Gallo territory, for sure.

After so many home runs were hit in the 2019 season, Major League Baseball did a massive study of the ball and found that inconsistent, and lower seams, reduced the drag on the ball, making it fly through the air more easily.

So now, a team struggling for offense and power is going to have to do it with a ball that doesn’t travel as far as it used to.

It will be interesting to see if that makes a difference. And, if home runs dip, won’t scoring dip? If you reduce one of the three outcomes, are we reduced to a strikeout or walk league? Will the incredibly shrinking offense around the league shrink even further.

Will Joey Gallo think he cannot possibly hit another home run at home?

So many questions.