Tim Tebow hit four home runs for the Syracuse Mets this season, and somehow that's not even the craziest story of the power surge across Triple-A baseball this year.
The regular season ended in the minors Monday, and there are some absurd numbers across Triple-A. Folks, the ball is juiced.
Last season, there were 3,652 home runs hit in Triple-A. One year later, that number jumped to a ridiculous 5,749. What changed? One thing: Triple-A began using MLB baseballs this year.
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This has nothing to do with launch angle or a philosophical change in coaching. Sure, teams are using as much data and technology as they can, but the numbers clearly correlate to the change in baseballs.
The numbers from across the minors, which didn't adopt MLB's ball, are on par with those of last season. Baseball America's JJ Cooper broke down how stark of a difference the power numbers in Triple-A were this year compared to across the rest of the minor leagues.
What makes this such a problem is that it's made scouting nearly impossible at Triple-A, especially for the Giants and A's.
Home run totals are up 59 percent this year in the Pacific Coast League, the league of the Giants and A's Triple-A affiliates. The A's Triple-A affiliate, the Las Vegas Aviators, ranked second in the regular season with 245 homers, while the Giants' Triple-A Sacramento River Cats ranked fourth with 224 long balls.
Oakland Athletics
One executive of a team who has a Triple-A affiliate in the PCL, told The Athletic's Jayson Stark that there's "no good reason to send guys to the Pacific Coast League right now."
“I don’t know what’s going to happen to the baseball next year,” the same exec said to Stark. “But I do know this is affecting development decisions. … It’s a real problem, what’s happened in the PCL. And it significantly affects the ability to develop.”
Las Vegas had four players hit at least 20 home runs in the regular season this year. Sacramento was right behind with three of their own.
Aviators outfielder Mark Payton hit .334 with 30 homers this season. Who's Mark Payton you might ask -- he's a 5-foot-8 27-year-old who never has played in the majors and hit six long balls last year.
Remember Mike Gerber? He hit .308 with 26 homers for the River Cats this year. Oh yeah, he's 27, a .088 career hitter in the majors and went 1-for-15 in a short stint with the Giants this season.
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Baseball needs to face the facts when it comes to the juiced ball. Admit the facts and only one use one throughout the minors. All the sport is doing right now is hurting itself.