CLEVELAND — Anthony Kay, having pitched well enough to reach the Futures Game at Progressive Field and sharp enough to understand the bad optics of excuse-making, worked hard Sunday afternoon to take ownership of his recent struggles.
Yet the Stony Brook native Kay, arguably the Mets’ top pitching prospect, has experienced the same phenomenon witnessed and voiced by plenty of others: Triple-A baseball has changed because the Triple-A baseballs have changed.
The Triple-A level now uses the same balls as the major leagues, an initiative implemented this season, and the change in power numbers makes the big-league explosion seem like a minor tremor in comparison.