A fork of Rural Dictionary
In baseball, a ball that--when hit by a batter--achieves a velocity of at least 98 mph while being launched at an angle within the 26 degree and 30 degree range. The angle range necessary for Barrel classification increases by 2 to 3 degrees for every 1 additional mph, until maxing out at 116 mph and an angle range of 8 to 50 degrees. Though a ball hit at speeds above 116 mph may still be classified as a Barrel, it must still maintain a launch angle within the 8 to 50 degree range.
The purpose of the Barrel classification is to define balls hit by batters that tend to produce exceptionally favorable batting averages for the offensive player.
Buster Posey's ability to hit home runs may be in decline, but he's knocked out way more Barrels than at this point last season so I think I'll keep him on my Fantasy Baseball team.