Using Android getIdentifier()

Since you are inside of an activity it is enough to write

int resId = YourActivity.this.getResources().getIdentifier(
    "ball_red",
    "drawable",
    YourActivity.this.getPackageName()
);

or if you’re not calling it from an inner class

int resourceID = getResources().getIdentifier(
    "ball_red",
    "drawable",
    getPackageName()
);

Note

getIdentifier() Returns 0 if no such resource was found. (0 is not a valid resource ID.)

Check

Check also in your R.java whether there is a drawable with the name ball_red

e.g.:

public static final class drawable {
        public static final int ball_red = 0x7f020000;
 }

EDIT
If you’re not in any activity then you must pass a context instead of resources as parameter then do this

int resId = context.getResources().getIdentifier(
    "ball_red",
    "drawable",
    context.getPackageName()
);