Digging Deeper
This lesson will be a bit shorter than the last couple (“Sure, we’ve heard that one before…”), but there are four “digging deeper” elements I want to clean up before I apply tape to the wrapping paper around this course (I was going to say “before I put a bow on this course,” but I never use a bow when I wrap presents). Those four “digging deeper” elements are:
Ballpark
Weather
Home/Away splits
Minor League numbers
Ballpark
Does ballpark make a difference? Yes, it absolutely does. But I also think it can end up falling under the heading of “Too much information.” This is something I am guilty of myself.
Everything lines up for a hitter except the ballpark. In other words: by every measure except “ballpark,” he is the top play at his position that day. And yet, because of ballpark, you end up moving away.
The first thing I need to mention here is this: you need to know your ballparks. Sure, you know Coors Field. You know the short porch in right in Yankee Stadium, and you know the way the ball fails to carry in most of those West Coast ballparks (Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego). But you should also know the little things, such as the fact that Pittsburgh has a poor park for right-handed power. Or that Fenway plays great for doubles (especially for righties) but is not quite as great for home runs as most people imagine. Or that Cincinnati and Philadelphia have fairly small ballparks, or that Miami has one of the largest outfields in baseball (bad for home runs, good for doubles and triples).
Another interesting note (not “off the subject,” necessarily, but not strictly necessary to mention, though interesting and worth mentioning nonetheless), the Rogers Centre (the Blue Jays’ ballpark) — which is known as a great park for home runs — may not be as great as most people imagine. A large part of the higher home-run numbers in Toronto are actually due to Toronto having more home runs in April and September than other ballparks have. You know why? Because of the retractable roof.
While other teams are playing in cold weather games (with cold temperatures suppressing home runs, as balls do not fly as far), games in Toronto are being played in a temperature-controlled climate. All that to say: summer games in Toronto do not require you to downgrade a home run hitter as the park still plays just fine to home runs, but you probably should not be upgrading hitters nearly as much as most do.
So, again: the first thing you need to do is know your ballparks. And then?
To read the rest of this lesson, you must purchase the course!
