Aubrey Huff announces retirement, accepts job with Pac-12 network

“Arizona was interested in me for a bench job,” Huff said. “I really was adamant about not doing that, and they ended up signing Eric Hinske. I always told myself that [I would retire] whenever I’m not an everyday player. I’ve won some World Series, what’s the point of being on the bench anymore? I’m not going to go through all of the grind and flights and everything just to ride the pine and watch. It’s just not what I want to do.”

NCAA hopes new baseball can reverse dip in offense

The NCAA has decided to switch from a ball with raised seams to a flat-seamed ball that is very similar to that used in the minors.

The 2013 CWS statistics reflected what happened during the season. Entering the CWS the national batting average of .274 was the lowest since 1975 (.273), team scoring of 5.28 runs a game was the lowest since 1973 (5.07) and team home runs per game of 0.42 was lowest since 1973 (0.42).

Washington State researchers found that flat-seamed balls launched at a typical home-run trajectory traveled about 387 feet compared with raised-seam balls that went about 367 feet. The findings were duplicated in research by Rawlings, the primary ball manufacturer for colleges.