There has been more drag on MLB baseball in 2025 than in any of the nine seasons the league has tracked it.
As a result, deep flies aren’t traveling as far, and equally hard-hit fly balls are coming up about four feet short on average. There is also a confirmed four-foot reduction on long fly balls. The league office is now acknowledging these changes and commenting on their role in shaping the current season.
One theory identified by the league is a potentially subtle change in seam width or height.
MLB’s Statement on Ball Changes
The mean drag coefficient in 2025 is .3514, the highest in the Statcast era. The previous high was .3462 in 2016, suggesting something is causing the ball to move less efficiently through the air.
There’s more drag on the ball this year than any year in the statcast era, according to MLB’s own numbers. More drag means less distance on batted balls, and equally-well-hit balls are indeed not traveling as far this March-May as in past seasons. https://t.co/BF2o09xN8a pic.twitter.com/vUXSAsv4ay
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) June 2, 2025
League spokesperson Glen Caplin said the league is aware of the issue but maintained there has been no change in the ball’s manufacturing.
“For the last several seasons, MLB has made drag information available to the public online, which is updated daily during the season,” league spokesperson Glen Caplin said in a statement to The Athletic’s Eno Sarris and Evan Drellich.
“We are aware of an increase in average drag this season and have provided information to the Major League Baseball Players Association on this issue as our experts continue to study any potential causes beyond normal variability in a product made by hand with natural materials. There has been no change to the manufacturing, storage, or handling of baseballs this year, and all baseballs remain within specifications.”
Multiple players have publicly stated that well-struck balls are no longer leaving the park as expected. The issue has been raised directly with Commissioner Rob Manfred during player meetings.
That said, the league said the results through Monday, which marks the first 978 games, or about 40% of the season, are “in line” with last year’s through the same number of games. They cited three statistics: home runs per ball in play were 4.2 percent this year, compared to 4.1% in 2024; batting average was .244, compared to .240; and runs per game were 8.6, compared to 8.7.
The Major League Baseball Players Association’s managing director of player services said he will be receiving more data from the commissioner’s office as a result of the widespread speculation and player complaints. Kevin Slowey, MLBPA’s managing director of player services, said:
“The Players Association has been monitoring baseball behavior throughout the season, and recently reached out to the commissioner’s office to review available data and request additional information on a range of baseball measures.”