Everyone loves a good baseball conspiracy theory.
Are you ready for the latest one?
Frank Thomas thinks MLB is juicing baseballs.
'The Big Hurt' provides no rhyme or reason to his theory and that's probably because there are no facts to back this up. As a matter of fact, the stats show just the opposite.
According to USA Today, through Tuesday's play, MLB teams have combined to hit 195 home runs, a rate of about .85 per team per game. Look how that stacks up to the last few Aprils:
April, 2014: 0.85 homers/team per game
April, 2013: 1.02 homers/team per game
April, 2012: 0.94 homers/team per game
April, 2011: 0.91 homers/team per game
April, 2010: 0.94 homers/team per game
Someone might want to ask Frank Thomas what was up in 1994, when he hit eight home runs in the month of April. Or in 1996, when he hit nine homers in March and April.
Home runs and offense in general has been declining over the past few seasons, mainly due to a better widespread understanding of how to evaluate pitchers and a bigger emphasis on defense.
Gone are the days of those multi-homer games that made baseball so fun to watch in the 90's. If anything, maybe MLB should take note of Thomas's comments and run with them. With the players off the juice, it probably wouldn't hurt to add some to the baseballs.
(H/T For The Win)
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