Table of Content
Bill Mueller is the only player to hit a grand slam from each side of the plate. Get the reminder we all need periodically about just how good Mays was during his Hall of Fame career by checking out the Giants’ single-season leaderboard. If you enjoy watching monster home runs, then check out the Phillies’ single-season leaderboard because there are plenty of them.
Though these juiced balls are from 2021 or earlier, according to manufacturing markings, they were in use in 2022; Insider obtained two of them from a June 5 Yankees match against the Tigers. "MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs, and they're bad," Chris Bassitt, a pitcher for the New York Mets, said in a televised rant on SNY after an April start against the Cardinals. Mike Schmidt led the National League in home runs eight times, the second most such titles in MLB history.
The Mets Are Illustrating A Frustrating MLB Salary Fact
But this season, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge was in the midst of an historic home run chase. On October 4, at the Rangers' Globe Life Field, Judge broke the American League record for home runs, with 62. He became the first player who hasn't been credibly connected to performance-enhancing drug use to surpass Roger Maris' 1961 milestone. Judge's offensive dominance helped him clinch the 2022 American League Most Valuable Player award. Cody Bellinger got off to the hottest of starts, setting a Major League record with 14 homers before May 1 to launch himself into the NL MVP conversation.
Learn more about each of these performances by checking out the Reds’ single-season leaderboard. I mean, if you’re going to join an exclusive group like Aaron and Mathews, you might as well grab the top spot, right? Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball. This section is showing information that is up to date as of the end of the 2022 MLB season.
MLB Team Batting Stats 2022
"I don't know how they got wind of what we were doing," Slater wrote to Wills. "But considering this I won't be sending any balls out. I don't want of our guys getting in trouble with MLB." According to the texts, the league executive told the union leader that "we would be glad to run any tests wants on baseballs," touting the aforementioned labs at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Washington State. The rep said the executive told him MLB wasn't "comfortable sending out game-used baseballs for third-party testing" because those balls are distorted by being "hit around thrown around."
Bautista's 54-homer campaign represents one of the most dramatic breakouts in recent history. The journeyman third baseman-turned-outfielder had knocked 59 total dingers over six seasons before setting the Blue Jays' franchise record in 2010 and winning MLB's home run crown. Bautista's 41-homer increase from '09 to '10 set an MLB record for the largest single-season increase, but Toronto featured plenty of boom behind him with six other 20-plus-homer hitters.
Los Angeles Dodgers
For a deep dive on each of these seasons , head over to the Diamondbacks‘ single-season leaderboard. It took a while, but we’ve finally made it, folks, and just in time for Opening Day. To make it easier to view each of these leaderboards, they’ll be organized and linked accordingly below. Some of the details for each squad’s leaderboard will be divulged — with a random video of home runs to enjoy — but for more context to each of the performances simply click the link and enjoy. “He learned to pitch, we call it, from your armpits down,” said Jay Lehr, the lead pitching instructor at Pro X Athlete in Indianapolis, where Rodon has trained the last two offseasons. Two years after he was non-tendered by the White Sox, Carlos Rodon is in line for a huge payday, possibly from the Yankees.
"Cutting that ball open," Slater said, repeating the executive's argument, "isn't the same as looking at a baseball out of the factory or humidor." Tale a stroll down memory lane to remember how ridiculously good Vlad Sr. was by checking out the Nationals’ single-season home run leaderboard. Get all the details you need by checking out the Mariners’ single-season leaderboard here. Get more details about all of these performances on the Pirates’ single-season home run leaderboard.
The Cubs Continue To Eye A Top MLB Superstar
While Insider accumulated 204 baseballs from 22 big league parks in 2022 — more than Wills has obtained in any of her previous studies — MLB also made sure it wasn't easy. One player told Insider that one of Manfred's top lieutenants warned a players' union official not to let players send any balls to Wills for "third-party testing" and warned that the league could fire any non-union team employees who helped her research. Nonetheless, we amassed baseballs from sources around the league, and supplemented our sample by purchasing balls fans caught and from licensed vendors at ballparks. While setting a new home run record every year is unreasonable, three more seasons similar to 2022 would set Murakami up for a massive payday after 2025. It's impossible to know which teams will need what in three years, but it would be safe to assume MLB's big market teams (Cubs, Dodgers, Giants, Mets, Yankees, etc.) will all have interest in Murakami when the time comes. Mark McGwire led the league in home runs 4 times including 52, 65, and record-breaking 70 home run seasons.
Jacob deGrom and Justin Verlander are off the market, so Rodon is the best pitcher remaining for teams seeking a top-of-the-rotation talent, with his list of possible suitors including the Yankees, Giants, Rangers and Dodgers. The 2014 third-overall pick is seeking at least a seven-year contract, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Thursday, though the Yankees would like to keep him to a four- or five-year deal at most, according to The Post’s Jon Heyman. After an up-and-down first six seasons in the big leagues, in which he flashed first-round talent, but his consistency and availability were plagued by injuries, Rodon tweaked his mechanics to stay on his back leg longer in his delivery. He posted a 2.67 ERA over the last two years with the White Sox and Giants, setting him up to cash in this offseason as one of the top pitchers on the free-agent market.
Ken Griffey Jr. led the American League in home runs in four seasons during the 1990s, including three consecutively from 1997 to 1999. On October 4, 2022 Aaron Judge hit his 62nd homerun of the year off Jesús Tinoco of the Texas Rangers passing Roger Maris for the AL home run record 61 years after Maris set it and making him only the sixth person to hit at least 60. If you’re interested in seeing lots of balls fly out of the yard north of the border, check out the Blue Jays’ single-season home run leaderboard. See who else made the top-10 and watch some videos of these performances by checking out the Rays’ home run leaderboard for a single season. As Pujols gears up for his final big-league season, get a reminder of just how dominant he was during the first 11 years of his career by checking out the full Cardinals single-season home run leaderboard. To get the full details and admire a bunch of long homers off Fielder’s bat , check out the Brewers’ single-season home run leaderboard.
You can watch all these dudes blast home runs by heading over to the Guardians’ single-season leaderboard. It’s not surprising to see Thomas find his way on this list, but it was surprising to see him not land in the top two. Plenty of context to each of the above seasons — and accompanying videos — can seen on the Orioles’ leaderboard.
"There was no '3rd ball' manufactured and the ball manufactured prior to the 2021 process change was fully phased out following the 2021 season. All balls produced for the 2022 season utilized the previously announced process change. • Regular-season games that used balls with special commemorative stamps — such as a Texas Rangers 50th anniversary ball — on the outer leather. By the time Manfred made that statement in July, Wills had already found evidence that at least a handful of those older, livelier, "juiced" balls — the ones that the "new manufacturing process" purportedly replaced — were still in circulation.
In any event, she said, she conducted her research in humidity-controlled conditions. "The storage conditions during analysis were comparable to those of a humidor," she said, "roughly 70 degrees and 55 percent humidity, or a dew point of 54 degrees." Well on his way to his second World Series title, Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander shouldn't have had any complaints about his dominant, storybook season. And yet on a sunny June day in The Bronx, the 39-year-old three-time Cy Young winner knew something was off. "It would be a huge blow to our club," Swallows president Tsuyoshi Kinugasa told the Kyodo News about losing Murakami in three years. "But he is a treasure in the baseball world. I'm sure baseball fans in Japan want to see him play in the majors."
Most home runs by a team in one season
Maris' mark was broken 37 years later by both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa during the 1998 home run record chase, with McGwire ultimately setting a new record of 70. Barry Bonds, who also has the most career home runs, then broke that mark, setting the current single season record of 73 in 2001. Of the four players to break Maris' record, one has since admitted to the use of performance-enhancing substances during his playing career and two others are both widely suspected to have used such substances as well. The 1998 and 2001 seasons each had four players hit 50 or more home runs – Greg Vaughn, Ken Griffey Jr., Sosa, and McGwire in 1998 and Alex Rodriguez, Luis Gonzalez, Sosa, and Bonds in 2001. The lowest home run total to lead a major league was four, recorded in the NL by Lip Pike in 1877 and Paul Hines in 1878. Teixeira established himself as one of baseball's premier power hitters, slugging .575 and driving in 144 runs while playing in all 162 games and supplying Gold Glove-caliber defense at first base.
Here is a look at the two teams that will likely find themselves towards the bottom of the league in 2023. With MLB free agency starting to shape up, some teams are beginning to separate themselves. In order to create a playlist on Sporcle, you need to verify the email address you used during registration. It was Bell’s 44th and 45th homers of an AL MVP season in which he ended up with 47. Manfred himself knows how minute changes to the ball can impact the game, and even make history. Wills said that some of the balls she collected came from ballparks equipped with humidors, and some didn't.
