PHOENIX -- The D-backs will not use a newly installed humidor at Chase Field until next season.
"Given the time in the championship season, the Commissioner's Office says they're not going to move forward in allowing us to implement the humidor this year," D-backs general manager Mike Hazen said. "We completely understand and respect the decision given the timeframe."
Not only would the D-backs have had to fix the calibration issues, but it would then need to be tested by Major League Baseball. Even then, it would take two more weeks because the balls have to be stored in the humidor for two weeks before being used.
It is not known what impact, if any at all, the humidor will have on games played at Chase Field. While it could reduce how far baseballs travel, the D-backs stated a few months ago that was not the reason they decided to build the humidor.
"We weren't necessarily anticipating [offensive] changes, but we can understand how some people would anticipate some changes to it," Hazen said. "Our goal was to adhere to the [Major League Baseball] ball-consistency standards that we need to. We are environmentally challenged here a little bit, given the level of humidity present in the state. I think we can control that to some degree being inside as opposed to outside. There's still a limit to that. That was our goal the whole time."