Ballpark Layouts

[therber2]

alot of this info is useless and/or irrelevant. A lot of these #s still apply but its affect on plays at best for most plays (except places like the new NYY stadium) is very minimal

It is a factor and very useful. Just be careful where you are getting your info on weather. WB, has anyone double checked these? I am going to keep an eye out and see if I see credible sources stating different orientations and I'll let you know.

[Jrod124]

good info WB

[TheLock]

Here is a look at the ballpark that will be home to the Miami Marlins in 2012

[Willie Bee]

It is a factor and very useful. Just be careful where you are getting your info on weather. WB, has anyone double checked these? I am going to keep an eye out and see if I see credible sources stating different orientations and I'll let you know.

Yes, I have checked these. I've been looked at very funny, as if I'm a real weirdo, when I've pulled my compass out inside stadiums and checked orientation. I think I noted in the first post of this thread that the reason I put this here to begin with was because other sites will have incorrect info with regards to how the wind is blowing on a particular day.

[Willie Bee]

Here is a look at the ballpark that will be home to the Miami Marlins in 2012

Have you been by the construction site by any chance? Wondering how that new stadium will lay on the land.

[TheLock]

Have you been by the construction site by any chance? Wondering how that new stadium will lay on the land.

I was there for the groundbreaking ceremony last July. It was a just a big plot of dirt at that point.

[TheLock]

Have you been by the construction site by any chance? Wondering how that new stadium will lay on the land.

http://mlb.mlb.com/fla/ballpark/webcam.jsp

[Willie Bee]

Good stuff, lock. I'm wondering when they say "south-east" if they mean home-to-center will be south to east or southeast? The old 'rule' for parks used to be that line (plate to centerfield) run southeast meaning leftfield was almost always the 'sun field.'

Funny story (well, it is to my buddy and I). When they were building then-Enron Field in Houston, we wanted to go inside and see how things looked and how the field was oriented once they got most of the seating levels in. The final few seasons of the Astrodome we had season tickets in the upper deck behind home plate, and were considering the same location for the new park. (We ended up buying in the leftfield porch.)

So we put on jeans, white t-shirts, steel-toed boots, work gloves and I grabbed a couple of hard hats from my oilfield days. We parked and went in like we were workers. As soon as we got inside, we knew were weren't for long in the place since EVERY OTHER PERSON inside was wearing an official Brown & Root lid. Sure enough, less than two minutes in, we were met by a security guard who asked for our site IDs, which we didn't have. He was still nice enough to walk us out 'the long way' so we could get a good look after we explained why we were there.

[jmanis]

good point

[SparJMU]

Does it help to have information regarding whether a ballpark is a hitters park or pitchers park? Doesn't Vegas have this exact same info?

[Willie Bee]

Does it help to have information regarding whether a ballpark is a hitters park or pitchers park? Doesn't Vegas have this exact same info?

Not really sure what info Vegas has about ballparks. I do know that in some instances a few years ago, the layouts that were shown on some sites were wrong.

As for whether a ballpark is hitter- or pitcher-friendly, you would need to get into park adjusment factors. And depending on rosters, that changes, i.e., Minute Maid in Houston has become more pitcher-friendly since it opened. No fences or walls have been moved in, back, raised or lowered.

Here's a link that will tell you more about park factors: http://www.baseball-reference.com/ab...rkadjust.shtml

[BadFinger]

do you have minny's new park?

[DuncHen22]

Anyone know where I can find a list of parks that don't have a roof (and are thus vulnerable to delays and cancellations due to weather)?

Thanks!

[THE PROFIT]

Good stuff, lock. I'm wondering when they say "south-east" if they mean home-to-center will be south to east or southeast? The old 'rule' for parks used to be that line (plate to centerfield) run southeast meaning leftfield was almost always the 'sun field.'

Funny story (well, it is to my buddy and I). When they were building then-Enron Field in Houston, we wanted to go inside and see how things looked and how the field was oriented once they got most of the seating levels in. The final few seasons of the Astrodome we had season tickets in the upper deck behind home plate, and were considering the same location for the new park. (We ended up buying in the leftfield porch.)

So we put on jeans, white t-shirts, steel-toed boots, work gloves and I grabbed a couple of hard hats from my oilfield days. We parked and went in like we were workers. As soon as we got inside, we knew were weren't for long in the place since EVERY OTHER PERSON inside was wearing an official Brown & Root lid. Sure enough, less than two minutes in, we were met by a security guard who asked for our site IDs, which we didn't have. He was still nice enough to walk us out 'the long way' so we could get a good look after we explained why we were there.

If you had walked in in your plain white hard hats but was wearing a shirt & tie carrying clipboards with alot of papers on them no one would have said a word!

Trick I learned a long time ago

[Tommyboy33]

thanks

[skrtelfan]

ballparks.com has diagrams with these.

[CashMoney27]

thanks as always willlie bee

[Rufus]

thanks guys

[chiliv5]

this isn't so much wind direction b/c wind doesn't affect it....... but a personal experience says....
I lived in houston for 4 years starting in 2000 and attented multiple games at "ENRON".. obv if you have ever watched a game there hardly any balls are hit out of the park in center or the left or right gaps.... however, down the lines there it is like a HS field... esp when the roof is open there and the humidity (if you have been there you know its nuts) is higher than hell..... the common fly ball down the left field line is a homer. ..... I watched Pujols hit a homer there one time so hard I thought it was going to crack the stadium in half.... the stands do not go up very far down the left field line so any decent home run there cracks off the back of the stadium and usually ends up back in play.... I would def consider Min Made a pull hitters park... the RF line isn't much diff except the stands go up higher....not sure this is useful info but i posted anyway....

[rthoughton]

ya, great! I always think about that. With the wind direction listed, it doesnt always help. now this does. thanks!

[Willie Bee]

the common fly ball down the left field line is a homer

This is simply not true, or at the very least an incredible overstatement. I had season tickets in the Crawford boxes the first three seasons the park opened. Balls that land in the first four rows of that section would've been off the wall in the old Astrodome. Anything from Row 5 back would've been a homer in the Astrodome.

Our tickets were in Row 4 of the section just fair of the foul pole. A good 85%-90% of the homers that direction went over our heads, which would have been home runs in the Astrodome that was always considered 'pitcher friendly.'

Too many people forget how 'easy' it was to jerk one out down the line in the Astrodome the last few years that park was opened. If you attended games in the mid-90s and later there, you will remember the 'Leftys Pub' area in the LF corner where the line was 330 with an 8-10 foot fence stretch about 30 feet into fair territory before the LF scoreboard wall began.

Also, go back and check the lineups Houston had in the mid-90s until 2003-04 or so. And remember there was a little thing called 'steroids' that ran rampant throughout baseball.

You are correct that the RF area at Minute Maid is often overlooked. It's a little deeper down the line, but with a much shorter fence extending all the way into center field.

But anyone who immediately thinks 'bandbox' when they hear Minute Maid has simply gobbled all of the bullshit dished out from mediots.

[BrianLaverty]

Thanks for the info.... good stuff

[chiliv5]

So you are saying it is hard, or not as easy to hit a homer down the LF line in Min Maid? I still stand by what I said. Maybe they were all juiced.... hell I don't know but the majority of the games I attented and watched they were cranking them down the LF line with ease.

[chiliv5]

The blue dots in the picture are the landing points of the home runs.

First, let's examine the home runs hit to left field. At first glance, it looks like these are all cheapies. This plot, however, shows landing points, and because of the wall behind the Crawford Boxes roughly 350 feet away from the plate, none of these HRs will look like they went farther despite hitting high enough off the wall that they would've traveled much farther. There have been 18 HRs hit to into the Crawford Boxes so far this year. Here they are in chart form.

Not only are those not HRs. Those aren't even close. Over 20 games, Minute Maid Park has added 4 HRs that wouldn't be a HR in the average ML stadium (or nearly any stadium, for that matter). Considering these balls are so far from the fence, it's probably safe to assume that an average ML left fielder could turn these balls into outs. That means that LF in Minute Maid Park adds 16 HR over a full season. According to linear weights, that's roughly 31 runs over 81 games.


From a player's point of view, Minute Maid Park is clearly a slugger's paradise, favoring both left and right-handed pull hitters. Home runs to right field are faciliated by the relatively short (7-foot) wall on that side.

JUST SOME INFO I FOUND BACKING MY CLAIM......

[Willie Bee]

1) Twenty games over more than 800 since the park opened does not a proof make.

2) Now show me some dots for all the balls caught in center and right-center that WOULD have been homers in the 'average' park.'

3) Define 'average park.' Include all adjustments made for elevation, humidity and wind factors.

[chiliv5]

You are right. I am wrong. End of story. It is impossible to hit a homerun down the left field line at Minute Maid. U happy?

ps- if you remember the original post had NOTHING to do with CF. NOTHING. So I have no clue why you felt the need to add that to this conversation.

[KennyM10]

Thanks for the Tips!

[Extra Innings]

I believe you used to be able to count on two fingers the parks that weren't laid out with Home-to-Center being in an Easterly or SouthEasterly direction. Those two were Wrigley and Fenway. It was a rule to lay out fields in that manner in order to keep the setting sun out of the batter's eyes since all games used to take place in the afternoon way back when. That's how we got the word 'southpaw' for left-handers since they would be facing south when looking at a runner on first base.

It's not a rule any longer, though I do think teams have to go through a formal approval process to deviate too much from that.

Appreciate the info...you have probably forgotten more than I know about baseball.

[ericthegangster]

miller park doesnt have any wind when the roof is closed

[Willie Bee]

miller park doesnt have any wind when the roof is closed

I would think with all the brats being eaten by Brewers fans there is plenty of wind being broken in Miller Park whether the roof is open or closed

[bigbank]

I think under 10 MPH isn't going to affect most balls either way, speaking generally. Over 10 and you have to start thinking about them. If Jose Lima is on the mound, just think of the wind as blowing out at gale force

that is classic

[mjamesb80]

gale force... haha that makes me laugh

[alex123]

very helpful. thanks! here's another link that might be useful:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor

[Gemoka]

Do books delay hanging a line at whitesox games or is it just cubs?

[bigsmitty]

Complete MLB Park Ranks

Hey, found the thread interesting so I did a bit of looking. A rating of above 1.0 will favor the hitter while below 1.0 the batter. More details at http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor. Cheers.

[COLOR=#000000 !important]"Hitters MLB Parks"
1 Minute Maid Park (Houston, Texas) 1.313
2 Rangers Ballpark in Arlington (Arlington, Texas) 1.269
3 Wrigley Field (Chicago, Illinois) 1.255
4 Sun Life Stadium (Miami, Florida) 1.250
5 Coors Field (Denver, Colorado) 1.208
6 Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore, Maryland) 1.182
7 Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati, Ohio) 1.171
8 Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 1.168
9 Rogers Centre (Toronto, Ontario) 1.103
10 Target Field (Minneapolis, Minnesota) 1.077
11 Comerica Park (Detroit, Michigan) 1.075
12 PNC Park (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) 1.046
13 Tropicana Field (St. Petersburg, Florida) 1.040
14 Miller Park (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) 1.031
15 Yankee Stadium (New York, NY) 1.020
16 AT&T Park (San Francisco, California) 1.017
"Pitchers MLB Parks"
17 Nationals Park (Washington, D.C.) 0.982
18 Turner Field (Atlanta, Georgia) 0.976
19 Angel Stadium of Anaheim (Anaheim, California) 0.967
20 Progressive Field (Cleveland, Ohio) 0.952
21 Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri) 0.934
22 Fenway Park (Boston, Massachusetts) 0.926
23 Citi Field (New York, NY) 0.882
24 Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, California) 0.879
25 Chase Field (Phoenix, Arizona) 0.856
26 Oakland Coliseum (Oakland, California) 0.847
27 Petco Park (San Diego, California) 0.824
28 U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago, Illinois) 0.815
29 Safeco Field (Seattle, Washington) 0.792
30 Busch Stadium (St. Louis, Missouri) 0.781[/COLOR]