Out of my 20 ball Pythons, only 2 of mine are very defensive.
Out of the others, at least 12 are friendly and curious and will never ball up when taken out of their enclosures.
A few are shy and will huff a bit and ball or at the least hide their heads, but are not usually that way for long.
It really is how Bogertophis says it is.
But also the energy that you put into holding them matters as well. If someone very timid about handling who's shaking or moving too quickly were to hold some of the more shy ones? They would definitely be one more defensive.
And then there's being able to understand the body posture or movements. Or timing. If you try to go and handle a BP when it's between blue and shedding they can be much more shy than usual. Sometimes I may miss a particular snake in blue and catch them just as they're cleared up again but I'll notice that they're being a bit more tightly coiled or secretive about their hides and choose to avoid upsetting them.
Other things can be like mating times. A normally sweet female may be more defensive because of ovulation. One of my sweetest males recently caught scent of another active male on the female I paired him to and became very nervous. Jumpy, trying to run, false strikes... Another couple of days he was just fine.
They're great little guys.
And negative experience will always be something that is remembered or spread around far more than good ones. So that may be why you see more about the defensive ones.
Or also many new owners will not understand stress with new hatchlings and mistake scared babies as being mean snakes. Especially when breeders say they're tame or well handled and they get a huffy ball or spitfire instead.
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