Is MLB's Offensive Resurgence Connected to Looming Crackdown on Sticky Stuff?

It's no secret, after all, that hitters are working on their lowest batting average since the league hit just .237 during the "Year of the Pitcher" in 1968.But especially after a high-scoring weekend that featured a whopping 119 home runs—including eight by the Toronto Blue Jays alone on Sunday—it's hard not to notice that the latter issue is already on its way to being resolved.Hitters' Historic Struggle May Be OverThough hitters didn't exactly have it easy even before 2021, it seemed early on like they were in for a challenge unlike any other this season.To wit, the league-wide .232 batting average in April was the lowest monthly mark since the batsmen of 1968 hit .230 in April and then .229 in May. Even after upping their average to .239 in May, the hitters of 2021 were still on track for a new all-time-low .236 average.That's no longer the case now, however, because a .247 average thus far in June has pushed the league's mark up to what would be a futility-dodging mark of .238.Granted, June isn't over yet. Though they should be credited for improving against high-spin pitches (i.e., at least 2,500 revolutions per minute) as the season has moved along, they're seeing fewer of those now and feasting even more so on the extra low-spin pitches:In spite of all these numbers, the hard part is proving that they're the direct result of fewer pitchers using sticky stuff when they're on the mound. Likewise, it's fair to observe that they're acting like it.What Else Might Be Happening Here?And now for the part where the tinfoil hats come off for the sake of acknowledging other contributing factors to the league's recent offensive surge.For starters, it never did make much sense that hitters were batting just .283 even when they put the ball in play back in April. The league-wide batting average on balls in play is typically much closer to .300, so it's little wonder that the BABIP shot up to .292 in May and is now at .296 in June.