EQUIPPED FOR CHANGE

Exploring the reasons behind college baseball's home run explosion

- J.J. COOPER

For the third time in the past 30 years, home run rates are skyrocketing around college baseball. And for the third time in the past 30 years, it likely means that something is happening with the equipment.

In 2023, teams are averaging 1.13 home runs per game, which will set the all-time NCAA record. Even if there is not one home run hit in Omaha, the all-time Division I record of 1.08 home runs per game, set in 1998 at the peak of the "drop 5" era of metal bats, will be smashed.

That leads to the simplest of questions: Why?

When the home run rate soared in the late 1990s, and again in the late 2000s, there were those who said it was because of improved training and player development and the rise of steroid use-but then the equipment changed and the home run rate quickly receded.

The last significant rules-based equipment change came in 2016, when the seams on baseballs were reduced to try to bring home runs back into the game. In 2014, just two players in college baseball topped 20 home runs. Just 10 teams hit at least 50. That year, teams averaged 0.39 home runs per game.

This year, 25 individual players were averaging 0.39 home runs per game or more, and 25 teams have hit 100 or more home runs.

There are a multitude of reasons for this, but we're going to look at the three most frequently mentioned reasons for the home run surge and examine why they make sense.

1. IT'S THE BALL

Many believe that the baseballs used in 2023 are "hotter" than those used in past years. Multiple coaches said that, anecdotally, they believe the baseballs are a key part of the home run surge.

If the drag of the baseball is just a little lower-something that can easily stay within the allowed parameters for a legal baseball-it would lead to extra distance on fly balls.