MLB News: Mets Pitcher Blasts League For Altering Baseballs This Season

Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt had some words for MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

Ask MLB pitcher and they'll all tell you the same thing. The baseballs feel quite different as compared to last season. Many pitchers have commented on how the slick baseballs are difficult to control. Especially now that the league has cracked down on pitchers using foreign substances like SpiderTack.

In a series that featured that featured a brawl due to a few batters being hit in the upper body and head injury, Mets pitcher Chris Bassitt sounded off on the league's decision to drastically change the baseballs for the 2022 season and how it's seemingly leading to more hitters being hit in the head than usual.

"I had some close calls tonight, and I've been hit in the face [by a line drive] and I don't want to do that to anybody ever, but MLB has a very big problem with the baseballs. They're bad. Everyone in the league knows it. Every pitcher knows it. They're bad."

Bassitt continued to bury MLB.

"They don't care. MLB doesn't give a damn about it. They don't care. We've told them our problems with them, and they don't care."

League wide statistics definitely reflect a big change in the baseballs being played with this season. Last year, teams hit 1.22 home runs per game. This year, that mark has plummeted to 0.88. League average OPS in 2022 stands at .672 entering play on Friday. That's 56 points lower than last season (.728).

Dodgers fans have taken notice that the balls just aren't traveling like they were last year. Both Cody Bellinger and Gavin Lux have smashed pitches only to watch the ball die on the warning track.

The conversation around the slick baseballs is only going to grow louder as batters get hit and fly balls that used to be home runs are routine outs.