GIF: Brewers' Maldonado literally rips the cover off the ball

Whether you attribute it to a manufacturing defect or Martin Maldonado's superhuman strength, the Brewers catcher literally ripped the cowhide cover off the baseball with his swing during the sixth inning of Friday's contest with the Pirates.

[Courtesy: ROOT]

Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez was understandably bewildered when he corralled the broken ball, and its flight pattern was seriously disrupted by the torn cover.