6 replies to this topic

[Kevin Ebert]

I took a broad look at how each of the Orioles minor league parks plays using park factors. Has anyone noticed anything in particular at these parks that would cause anything the park factors picked up?

Here's the link.

http://baltimorespor... ... k-factors/

[Tucker Blair]

Good read Kevin. I always find it interesting to see how different parks vary.

Another interesting note is to see how power develops as the different tiers of ability go up.
The Orioles certainly have some curious parks when it comes to wind. Norfolk and Delmarva especially, with Bowie having some odd nights in there as well.

[LanceRinker]

*bump*

I linked to this piece on Beyond the Box Score (http://www.beyondthe...the-big-leagues) to get it some extra attention. It's really interesting to look at the different scoring environments across the minors.

Adam Eaton tore up the PCL last season with a .381 average and hit .259 in a 22-game audition with the D-Backs late last season. This could be a good way to really evaluate a player in the minors as opposes to looking at stat lines and saying "this player is good" or "this players appears to be ready for the bigs".

[Kevin Ebert]

I thought the most interesting thing I found in looking at the park factors in the system was that it was so easy to hit a home run in Frederick. That doesn't make a ton of sense and may have been some kind of 3 year sample size fluke, but even if the effect isn't 100% real, there's probably something going on there that makes it easier than normal to hit home runs. I'm just not quite sure what that is.

[JeremyStrain]

Couple minor notes off the top of my head. The way MD slopes, Delmarva is right at sea level, and while the park LOOKS like it should be easy to get out, the air just feels heavy there. I've hit there and the ball just seems to DIE around the 275-300 foot range.

As you go further west, you are gaining altitude, Bowie, being a little bit East of 95 sits just below 100feet above sea level, as mentioned the direction it sits for whatever reason you get a stiff breeze in dead center, but it RARELY goes left to right or right to left. The lines are fairly short, so if you are a straight pull hitter you've got an advantage. I've hit there too and found it easier to pull than to go oppo (I'm a RHH) but that's just a general hitting rule, and would probably play the same if I was a LHH, CF wasn't hard to hit to, just not in the air. The way the further back wall and scoreboard are set, the wind comes over them and pushes balls down, if you hit a low line drive to CF it will travel fast, but when you get to a certain height on the ball it just gets held up there forever.

As you keep going West you get to Frederick which is a couple hundred feet above sea level which makes it easier for the ball to travel. Never hit here myself, so don't have a ton of insight on this one.

Also, minor league park effects get much more skewed than ML effects, because you are going to have more consistent level of talent year to year at the ML level, where the minors are more volatile. You may have one or two years of great RHH power come through in the minors, and then not have another power hitter at all for a year or two, so it's MUCH harder to weigh park effects based on statistics and results. You'd need to really have to have the same set of players both home and visitors play there for a couple years to get a better picture that way. It really depends on the grouping of prospects at that level for this year or that year to see if you're going to face stronger pitching from the right or left side which can skew your numbers. Also the level and when players tend to bulk up and develop will play into things. Like you are much more likely to see major power out of players in AA than you are in low A, so HR trends are going to be all over the place in Delmarva.

[Kevin Ebert]

Just to clarify - the park factors were calculated comparing the team's home statistics to their road statistics. So while minor league rosters change frequently, there should have typically been the same players on the team responsible for compiling the data. I'm sure there were a few rare situations where a player went on a hot streak at home and got promoted, but I doubt that happened often enough to skew the data.

I'm sure the minor league data is noisier than the major league data, which is pretty noisy itself.

Frederick isn't exactly up in the mountains or anything. I guess I'd find it hard to believe that 200-300 feet of elevation would cause the ball to travel significantly farther. Do you think that level of elevation can really make a difference?

You really only hear about elevation making a difference in the major leagues when the elevation is in the thousands of feet. (AZ or CO)

[JeremyStrain]

Just to clarify - the park factors were calculated comparing the team's home statistics to their road statistics. So while minor league rosters change frequently, there should have typically been the same players on the team responsible for compiling the data. I'm sure there were a few rare situations where a player went on a hot streak at home and got promoted, but I doubt that happened often enough to skew the data.

I'm sure the minor league data is noisier than the major league data, which is pretty noisy itself.

Frederick isn't exactly up in the mountains or anything. I guess I'd find it hard to believe that 200-300 feet of elevation would cause the ball to travel significantly farther. Do you think that level of elevation can really make a difference?

You really only hear about elevation making a difference in the major leagues when the elevation is in the thousands of feet. (AZ or CO)

I don't thinks its a huge issue by itself (and I'm pretty sure I read its closer to 700-1000ft dif from delmarva). But then factor in humidity difference, weather difference, and airflow and it will have some impact. If you've e er played in delmarva the air is like soup (they have school delays for dense fog all the time) and you can tell when you hit. The ball just doesn't travel as well. My hs was even closer to the water and I was always amazed at how I could hit the ball the same over here and there and have an extra 30-45 ft of travel here when I was home.