CPBL Announces Test Result on 2023 Game Balls
In March, before the start of the 2023 CPBL season, the CPBL commissioned the University of Taipei to conduct the annual testing on the official game balls.
On May 8, the CPBL revealed that all nine criteria, including appearance, seam count, weight, circumference, diameter, seam height, seam width, coefficient of restitution (COR), and compression value (C-D), all complied with the standard.
2023 CPBL Game Ball COR: 0.555
As for the value of the coefficient of restitution (COR)? According to the league, the 2023 season’s game ball has a COR value of 0.555 and is within the strict range (0.540 to 0.560) set by the CPBL team owners. It is worth mentioning that the game ball from the 2022 season had a COR value of 0.556.
DOUBLE SHOTS! The Uni-Lions' 林安可 (Lin An-Ko) launches 2 home runs last night. Lin is currently leading the league with 4 home runs. #CPBL pic.twitter.com/rBCURPObtB
— CPBL STATS – ♥️ #95, Mina (@GOCPBL) May 2, 2023
2023 vs 2022 Game Balls (First 60 Games)
So how does 2023 batting stats stack up against the 2022 batting stats through the first 60 games?
- 2022 Season – COR .556
- .260/.326/.349 with 50 home runs
- 2023 Season – COR .555
- .265/.333/.373 with 71 home runs
The batting average and the on-base percentage are almost identical. The only major difference is the slugging percentage. With 60 games played, the 2023 season has 21 more home runs than the 2022 season.
Uni-Lions 蘇智傑 (Su Chih-Chieh) launches his league-leading, 5th home run of the season. #CPBL pic.twitter.com/q1vAjtDvAD
— CPBL STATS – ♥️ #95, Mina (@GOCPBL) May 5, 2023
Explanation on “Home Run Surge” in 2023
Judging by the increase of the slugging percentage, it makes better wonder if the home run surge is due to the better manufacturing quality of the game balls. Or is it simply the case where CPBL hitters are getting used to the new de-juiced ball?
The answer to that is a lot more straightforward. Looking at the top five home run hitters in the 2023 season, you will find three players (Lin An-Ko, Su Chih-Chieh and Liao Chien-Fu) are healthy and are back in the everyday lineup again. Those three players were on the injured list last season.
When adding those three players up along with the Dragons’ top prospect Liu Ji-Hong, who is having his breakout season, this pretty up explains where those 21 extra home runs came from.
Rakuten Monkeys 廖健富 (Liao Chien-Fu) hits a walk-off home run to lift the Monkeys to a 2-1 win over the Guardians. #CPBL pic.twitter.com/qB2CeNuj91
— CPBL STATS – ♥️ #95, Mina (@GOCPBL) May 3, 2023