Over the first two months of the minor league season, we've been tracking and pondering the major increase in run-scoring across most of the levels without sufficient explanation.
Baseball America's J.J. Cooper took a crack at it in a lengthy article published on Thursday, and the only explanation that passes the smell test for him is a change in the minor league baseball, especially since the production across the Triple-A leagues -- both of which use the major league baseball -- is largely unchanged.
If that theory is indeed the correct one, Cooper doesn't think the ball is intentionally juiced, because Major League Baseball has used the minor leagues to experiment with changes to rules, technology and equipment, including a tacky, enhanced-grip baseball in the Southern League three years ago. MLB is usually forthcoming about changes in order to get useful feedback from teams, players and fans, so Cooper thinks it's more about manufacturing tolerances allowing creating a livelier baseball while still remaining within league specifications.
At any rate, since the weather hasn't even warmed all the way up, it's fair to expect this boom to last a while, particularly with the South Atlantic League and the Winston-Salem Dash.
Last season, the South Atlantic League resembled MLB during the so-called “Year of the Pitcher” in 1968. In 2025, A.J. Ewing led all batters with just a .288 batting average. Jeral Perez led the league with 22 homers. Across the league, there were 4.3 runs per game and 0.66 home runs per game, the latter of which compares very similarly to the 1968 MLB home run rate.
This year, MiLB has jumped straight into numbers resembling the heart of the steroid era and the home run record chase. That same Sally League is now seeing 5.7 runs per game this year and 1.18 home runs per game.
Sally League batters are now hitting home runs at a rate equal to the greatest home run seasons in MLB history. Those 5.7 runs per game? MLB has never seen a season like that. In the World Series era, the MLB record is 5.49 from almost a hundred years ago back in 1930.
Gwinnett 7, Charlotte 3
- Rikuu Nishida was 1-for-3 with an HBP and a sac fly.
- Austin Hays, 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout while playing five innings in right field.
- Jacob Gonzalez went 1-for-4.
- Junior Pérez went 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Braden Montgomery entered as a pinch hitter and was 0-for-2.
- Hagen Smith: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 HR, 46 of 76 pitches for strikes.
Notes:
*Smith walked two batters in the first inning and two batters in the fourth inning, which explains the decent strike percentage in spite of the free passes.
Kannapolis 3, Myrtle Beach 1 (5 innings, rain)
- Abraham Nunez tripled, singled and walked.
- Billy Carlson walked and struck out twice.
- Javier Mogollón was 1-for-2 with a homer.
- Matthew Boughton and Rylan Galvan both struck out both times up.
- Jaden Fauske, 0-for-1 with a walk and a stolen base.
- Alexander Albertus went 1-for-2.
- Truman Pauley complete game: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 1 HR, 1 WP, 45 of 76 pitches for strikes.
ACL Guardians 3, ACL White Sox 2 (7 innings)
- Jordan Rich went 1-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Jose Mendoda was 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Eduardo Herrera, 0-for-2 with a walk, HBP and a strikeout.
- Landon Hodge went 1-for-2 with a walk.
- Yordan Soto homered, doubled and struck out.
- Alejandro Cruz was 0-for-3.
- Cesar Familia: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
