Yankees: 3 players who were extremely affected by changing baseball

2. Gleyber Torres

Players who had age-22 seasons like Gleyber Torres aren’t really supposed to slide backwards in two years’ time, but here we are.

Torres’ bat is beginning to come around, with his first home run of the 2021 season finally leaving the yard on Sunday afternoon, taking with it the monkey that lived upon his back. So far in ’21, though, his climb back to relevancy has been predicated on shortening his swing, line-drive singles and loopers. The extremely skilled Torres has been able to maximize his heroics by batting .296 with runners in scoring position and adjusting to hit ’em where they ain’t, but he hasn’t looked the part of a middle infielder who can pop 38 homers out over a 162-game slate.

Thanks, new dead baseball!

In an extremely strange turn of events, the much-maligned Torres has been an above-average defender in 2021 at shortstop according to all advanced metrics, and has raised his average to .242 while thriving at driving in runs in “clutch” scenarios. The homers, though, have disappeared, and there’s an obvious culprit behind his changing profile.

Hitters aren’t supposed to lose their most marketable skill as they mature, especially between the ages of 22 and 24.

Though the Yankees’ offense on the whole has somehow been above average in 2021, which is an embarrassing indictment on what is now average, Torres remains below even the new, lowered threshold. His 88 OPS+ indicates his overall output is 12 points below league average, and figuring out a way to not only pass 100 but vault over it could determine whether he’s the future shortstop of the Yankees.

Yes, it’s really that dire.

1. Masahiro Tanaka

Yes, the changing baseball may very much be a major reason behind Masahiro Tanaka’s departure from MLB at the age of 32.

After opening his career stateside with ERA+ of 138, 116, and 140 (in the Yankees’ forgotten 2016 season, Tanaka was brilliant), he hit a rough patch during the 2017 regular season, allowing 35 home runs in 178.1 innings pitched. In the postseason, though, he miraculously settled down, shutting out the Indians and allowing two earned runs in 13 innings against the Astros, creating the myth of “Playoff Tanaka.”

Could the many fluctuations of his last four seasons be due in large part to the changing baseball? It’s quite possible! Pitchers grew suspicious of the ball’s composition in 2017, and researchers eventually determined it was more aerodynamic, yet they couldn’t discern why. In 2018, Tanaka got his numbers back above league average (112 ERA+, 3.75 ERA), but then changes came again for the ball in 2019, when Tanaka had the second-worst season of his career, posting a 4.45 ERA and allowing a number of gopher balls, altering his reputation.

You can legitimately track Tanaka’s fluctuations and inability to tame his famous splitter with the introduction and removal of new baseballs. Famously, too, MLB took its live balls out of play during the 2019 postseason … when Tanaka shut the Astros out on the road in Game 1 of the ALCS, looking as good as he had all season. Who’s to say MLB didn’t make the same swap in the 2017 postseason?

Sad to say, but MLB’s constant experimenting with the baseballs deeply affected a feel pitcher like Tanaka, who is no longer stateside in part because the league determined he was regressing. Perhaps, but perhaps not. He might be dominating and soaking up innings with the new, dead baseballs. Probably would be.

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