Why does the umpire change baseballs when a pitch hits the dirt?
A line drive can skip across the dirt or even hit the wall and it will not be changed for a new baseball. Question submitted by: Austin Wartelle Nolan: The standard policy is when the ball hits the dirt or hits the plate, if it hits home plate, its texture will put a scuff on the ball, and then it can go to the advantage of the pitcher. So obviously every hitter wants that ball changed. Then if it hits in the infield, it’s not as likely to be scuffed up like that, versus hitting the plate. So to take that question out of the game, the umpires were probably directed to throw every ball out that hit the ground. I think the average life of a baseball is seven pitches. If you could change one thing in your career, what would it be and why? Question submitted by: Brian Sheridan Nolan: It would be to have had better control early in my career. I came up as a hard thrower and didn’t know anything about pitching. I got there because I was blessed with a great arm. If you could have changed tha
