Barstool Phill levies accusations of juicing balls towards MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2019, points towards recent downturn as conclusive evidence

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has caught a lot of slack over the course of his tenure as the league's top man. However, some fans and observers are promoting theories that Manfred and his associates have been messing around with a rather important part of the game.

In the wake of last season's patrial lockout, Manfred established an 11-person "competition committee" to examine the current state of the game. The goal of the committee was to draft new measures that would shorten game lengths and stimulate offense.

The new rules that were enacted include a ban on defensive shifts, larger base sizes and of course, the pitch clock. Needless to say, the introduction of these measures has made Manfred one of the MLB's more controversial bosses.

Recently, Meek Phill of Barstool Sports took an extra shot at Manfred. In a Twitter post, the baseball provocateur pointed to a decrease in New York Mets home runs since 2019 as supposed "proof" that Manfred was supplying doctored baseballs to teams in the league during the 2019 season.

"Rob Manfred super juiced the baseballs in 2019. HR records for teams were being broken left and right. Pop ups that usually land in shallow RF were going over the fence. The 2019 Mets gave up 1.3 HR/9. The 2023 Mets are giving up 1.4 HR/9" - Phill

While Phill's talking points might feel somewhat conspiratorial, the statistics back up his case. The 2019 season had a total of 6,776 home runs, which is more than has ever been recorded in any other season.

The juiced balls theory has been around since the 1990s. However, things changed after the 2019 season. Manfred himself acknowledged that the balls being used had less drag than in previous seasons, but vehemently denied any alterations. During the 2019 MLB All-Star game, then-Houston Astros pitcher Justin Verlander referred to the MLB's balls as "a f***king joke."

"Amidst juiced ball accusations, Rob Manfred vehemently denies MLB has purposely altered baseballs" - SNY Mets

Clandestine MLB ball juicing would be a PR disaster

While there have been mumblings about different balls in recent years, there is no concrete proof that the league has been doctoring balls on a mass scale.

If a scandal like that were to break, commissioner Manfred's entire credibility, at a time when he is working harder than ever to promote the swathe of new rules, could be cast into jeopardy.