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Are there fewer HRs since steroid testing began?
Posted by John Dewan on Dec 16th 2015
June 30, 2005
Before 2005, the percentage of home runs per AB was increasing. Through games of Wednesday, June 29, 2005, that percentage is at a four year low, albeit only slightly lower than 2002 and 2003.| Year | HR/AB | |
| 2005 | 3.00% | |
| 2004 | 3.26% | |
| 2003 | 3.12% | |
| 2002 | 3.06% |
Let's also update the percentage of runs scored by HR.
| Year | RbyHR | |
| 2005 | 35.6% | |
| 2004 | 37.0% | |
| 2003 | 35.9% | |
| 2002 | 35.8% |
In late April the drop in runs scored by HR was larger than it is now, down to 34.2%. Through games of Wednesday, June 29, 2005, that percentage is still at a four year low (35.6%), but not as pronounced as it was back in April. And once again, it's not much lower than 2002 and 2003.
With the new drug testing program we are seeing some changes, but those changes are probably more related to the cold weather in April than the new drug policy. Now that the weather is warm, the HRs are blooming. We'll look at this again later in the season.