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In fact, Schwarber is responsible for three of the Cubs' four hardest-hit homers and six of their top 11. Other Diamondbacks pitchers should get in on the fun too. Zack Godley is currently considered a bit of a sleeper right now despite have a pretty strong 2017 campaign. He boasted a solid 9.58 K/9 over 155 innings of work, but he still gave up 3.08 BB/9, which you’d like to see come down a bit. Godley had an exceptional 56.5% groundball rate at home, which likely explains why opposing hitters hit just .194 against him at home.
Better pitchers/worse hitters might be a factor, but what is the coefficient next to that variable? A statistically significant change in pitcher and hitter quality in just 2 years seems unlikely. What’s interesting to note here is that 25 of the 28 parks listed experienced some level of decrease in home run rate, which aligns with the broader trend that I broke down about last month. It is also interesting that Oracle Park in San Francisco has seen a 15.5-point bump in home run rate, likely due to the Giants moving their fences in for the 2020 season. If we’re comparing 2019 to ’21 data, that change would explain the large positive difference in home run rate there.
Round 1: Hoskins def. Aguilar, 17-12
It's safe to say Giancarlo Stanton will embrace his move to The Bronx even more. Now, he gets to enjoy the hitter-friendly life at Yankee Stadium. Great American Ball Park , and Coors Field , rounded out the rest of the top-five. Joey Votto and the air in the Mile High City obviously play factors for the reds and Rockies, respectively. As a team, the Giants would have hit 76 more barreled home runs and 14 more solid home runs over the last four years if AT&T were a neutral home run environment.
Now Coors Field isn’t the only ballpark at a high elevation, but it by far leads the pack by a wide margin. Look, going to see a team that hasn't cracked 70 wins since 2014 hardly sounds promising, but for opposing fans, Great American Ball Park is a home run heaven. Of the 1,004 homers the Reds home field has yielded the last five seasons, 552 have come from the visitors, and 158 of them from the Milwuakee Brewers, the most of any road team at any ball park. Affectionately called "the biggest joke in baseball" by the NY Post back in 2009, the House that Ruth Built continues to see home runs in droves with its "shawt pawches" in both left and right field. The biggest Yankee-killers have been the Orioles, with 138 homers since 2012. Javy Baez and Kyle Schwarber of the Cubs highlight this year’s field, which also includes Jesus Aguilar, Bryce Harper, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Alex Bregman and Rhys Hoskins.
Out of the Park in the Postseason
Earlier this offseason for the 2018 MLB Draft Guide I published a piece on Ballpark Factors.Throughout the piece I touched on a variety of factors such as field area & size, elevation, humidity, etc. As a small note I briefly mentioned that Coors Field is currently the only park in Major League Baseball that utilizes a humidor to store baseballs. Well as we gear up for the 2018 season, news has come out that the Diamondbacks will indeed install a humidor. Now take a deep breath because this could be a big deal. In 2017 for Miller Park, the biggest difference was with strikeouts. With the roof open there was a 27.89% strikeout rate compared to a 24.55% rate with the roof closed.
Last season Goldschmidt hit 20 of his 36 home runs at Chase Field. He also hit 23 doubles at home compared to just 11 away from Chase Field. So yeah the guy clearly hit better at home, but don’t discount his road numbers either.
Examining Home Run Rates by Ballpark
Park factors at ESPN show that Chase Field has been a home run friendly park in 2011, 2012, and 2014, but not to the degree it is playing this year. There also appears to be something going on at Chase Field as Arizona Diamondback pitchers are giving up 1.38 home runs at home while only giving up 1.19 homers on the road. The hitters are seeing an even bigger split with 17.5 percent HR/FB at home and only 11.4 on the road. Now if only there was as much confidence in a guy like A.J. Pollock played in only 112 games last season and hit 14 home runs, nine of which came at home. When healthy, Pollock is considered a 20/20 guy especially due to the hitting conditions in Chase Field.
There is nothing exciting about strikeouts and home runs. Even the home runs are very fleeting excitement, followed by bases empty and more strikeouts. Even pitchers’ duals aren’t exciting anymore because they usually are the result of bad hitting and not great pitching.
Harper seemed to be in trouble for a bit there, but he absolutely came alive in the final minute with the crowd behind him to hit 18 homers before the end of normal time. That gave him 30 seconds to hit one homer with bonus time, which he did without strain. Harper wins the Home Run Derby with 19 home runs in the final and 45 home runs overall. Escape Velocity takes the average of a player's batted ball velocities subtracted from 88.
Running backs coach Kenni Burns has played a big part in the development of players such as Mohamed Ibrahim and Rodney Smith under Gophers football coach P.J. No player from the Cubs has won the event since Sammy Sosa in 2000, so Baez or Schwarber has a chance to end the drought. The bracket is also set up so we could be treated to a Baez-Schwarber final, which would be entertaining for fans on the North Side. Bryce Harper defeated Kyle Schwarber in a thrilling final to win the 2018 MLB Home Run Derby at Nationals Park. It was a special night for the hometown star, who needed bonus time to get the 19 home runs necessary to topple the Cubs outfielder in the title round. Jump is a Statcast metric that shows which players have the fastest reactions and most direct routes in the outfield.
He’ll probably have a tough time staving off Bryce Harper with the home crowd behind the Nationals star. Harper delivered in the first round by knocking out Freeman with 13 home runs and 27 seconds still on the clock. He hit some absolute bombs that few other lefties could replicate.
Harper's 15 homers of 110-plus mph are more than twice as many as any other Washington hitter has during that time. The biggest question has been how will this impact Paul Goldschmidt? To be honest Goldy might be the only person exempt from the humidor impact.
In Arizona’s dry, desert environment the baseballs don’t have much moisture. They’re a bit lighter and fly off the bat easier allowing for harder contact. By storing the baseballs in a controlled environment they’ll be a little heavier because of the moisture they absorb.
Increasing launch angle is less efficient at AT&T Park at least in terms of converting batted balls into home run. The last time the Giants finished higher than 25th in homers was in 2014. An easy enough explanation is that the Giants aren’t good at hitting. The last time the Giants had a wRC+ of over 100 was in 2015. Remember, wRC+ adjusts for the park, so even considering they play in an extreme pitcher’s park, they haven’t been good. Perhaps the first place most baseball fans think of when it comes to dingers is Coors Field due to the high elevation, but the size of the Rockies field keeps it from topping the list.
Studying stats from the last five seasons, we’ve determined which clubs and individual pros are best at delivering the thrill of the homer for their fans. Ready to find out how your team stacks up in our home run rankings? One of the major studies MLB analytics, pundits and fans have looked at is ballpark factors. That is, which stadiums are more friendly for hitters, and which ones tend to favor the fielding/pitching team more.
The study takes into account homers at every ballpark over the last five MLB seasons, and while some of the results are obvious, a few may surprise you. Here's a breakdown of where you have the best chance to see a homer in 2018. But it’s not just the baseball that is contributing here. MLB reportedly added humidors to five stadiums for the 2021 season, bringing the total league-wide to 10. The Rockies, Diamondbacks, Mariners, Mets, and Red Sox already had humidors in their stadiums pre-2021, but which five teams are new to that list has yet to be disclosed.
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