MLB used multiple different baseballs again in 2022, and you’ll never guess where they wound up

Jon Heyman tweeted that Aaron Judge was heading to the San Francisco Giants. Bradford William Davis reported on Dr. Meredith Wills' research that MLB used at least two or three different baseballs during the 2022 season.

In 2021, Dr. Wills cracked the code on two baseballs being used in the 2020 pandemic-shortened season. In 2022, she proved it again.

Dr. Wills has run into more roadblocks getting baseballs from teams. Non-unionized team employees have been threatened with losing their jobs if they acquire balls for her. MLB disputes this.

Insider accumulated 204 baseballs from 22 big league parks in 2022. MLB made sure it wasn't easy to gather the baseball samples. One player told Insider that one of Manfred's lieutenants warned a players' union official not to let players send any balls to Wills for "third-party testing"

MLB used multiple baseballs again in 2022.

MLB used multiple baseballs again in 2022. Slater, a member of the MLBPA's executive subcommittee, retrieved a ball for him from Wills. The league threatened Will's job. The MLB denied that it threatened anyone's jobs. It said it doesn't participate in third-party studies without clear visibility into research methodology.

Slater, Justin Verlander, Chris Archer, Max Scherzer and Nick Castellanos are among the players who agreed to be named for the piece. Dr. Wills' research included 204 baseballs from 22 different big league parks.

The 2018 baseball information suggests that the balls with more likely to fly further were found in commemorative games, All Star Week, the Postseason and Yankees games in August, September and October. It's potentially catastrophic for the sport to have different balls (with potentially different effects) sent to different places.

The majority of baseballs Wills obtained were dead, but 36 of them fit the criteria for the "Goldilocks ball" - not too heavy, not to light, just right. Most of the Goldilock balls were found in one of three situations: Postseason games, All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, or games with special commemorative stamps on the outer leather.

Aaron Judge set a new Yankees and American League home run record last season. Baseballs were used at Yankees games late in the season, which helped him earn the American league's Most Valuable Player award.

MLB used multiple baseballs again in 2022. There was a playoff race for wild card spots in the American League East this year. All of the games played from August 1 through the end of season were played at Yankee Stadium.

Minnesota's playoff chances dropped 20.8 percent after they entered Yankee Stadium on September 5. Albert Pujols, Paul Goldschmidt and Dr. Wills' research and Davis' piece discuss the way MLB handles the ball. MLB used multiple different baseballs again in 2022. The ball was used in the National League MVP game between the Cardinals and the Diamondbacks.

MLB used multiple baseballs again in 2022. Player earnings and contracts are affected by this. Aaron Judge is getting paid $360 million. Anthony Rizzo had a good August at Yankee Stadium. He put up 124 wRC+ there. If he ends the season on a down note, he might opt out of his Yankees deal. Home run hitters are not that rare. Jed Hoyer let all his 20+ home run guys go over the last two seasons.

Gambling and baseball are two areas that are impacted by opaque and unpredictable changes to the equipment. MLB has been partnering with gambling outfits over the last few seasons. There is a sportsbook currently under construction at Wrigley Field and the White Sox have a video board with sportsbooks-sponsored video boards in left field.

MLB used multiple baseballs again in 2022. Two league affiliated researchers concluded that the variance Dr. Wills noted in her research was within the standard range of deviation one would expect from a handmade product.

MLB used multiple different baseballs in 2022. Two researchers from Washington State University and University of Massachusetts Lowell studied them and found no variation beyond what you would expect from a hand-made product.

MLB used multiple baseballs again in 2022. The baseball they studied all fell within the parameters for an official MLB baseball. It's worth noting that the sample is still a small sample relative to the number of baseballed used in an MLB season.

MLB used multiple different baseballs again in 2022. All the balls were within the legal specifications in MLB’s rulebook.

MLB used multiple different baseballs again in 2022. It's not clear if the differences are due to production noise or to different ball materials.