Rays fas...When you hear NYS do you think Cheap HR to Right? (Statistics included)

by Rjw123 on Jul 4, 2009 4:55 PM EDT

FYI This is my first Fanpost here... So if it sucks there is my excuse.

A lot has been made of the Homers being hit out of the NYS at an alarming rate this year, Is it really that bad?

Currently the stadium is averaging 3.38 Hr's a game which leads the major leagues by far. The next closest stadium is Citizens Bank Park, ( AVG 2.94 HRPG) Looking quickly at the numbers to date:

The average is 2.225 HRPG in the AL
And average is 1.90 HRPG in the NL
Making the MLB HRPG avg 2.08
This brings the Yanks new stadium to a full 1.3 HRPG higher. Is this significant?

http://www.hittrackeronline.com/stadiums.php <--- photos and stats came from this website

What is more telling than the amount of HR's being hit is the quality of them. This is a bit harder to put on paper but when watching games featuring the NYS one may notice that what appears to be a lazy fly ball to RF tends to be a HR quite often. (cheap HR's)

Here is a look at the Spray charts of a couple ballparks for comparison:

NEW YANKEE STADIUM

via www.hittrackeronline.com

I would venture to say almost 1/3 of all hrs hit are to short right and between 300-350 feet. Not really quality bombs.
AVG TRUE DISTANCE - 391.2

TROPICANA FIELD - hovers around the AL average at 2.23 HRPG

via www.hittrackeronline.com

In contrast around 80% of the HRs hit here look to be between 350-400 Ft and are distributed much more equally it would seem.
AVG TRUE DISTANCE - 390.3

CITIZENS BANK PARK - the second highest HRPG in the Major leagues at 2.94 HRPG

via www.hittrackeronline.com

Again look at the Range rings here you can see how the homers seem a lot further than most being hit out at NYS
AVG TRUE DISTANCE - 396.2

KAUFFMAN STADIUM - The least HRPG in the AL at 1.61 HRPG

via www.hittrackeronline.com

AVG TRUE DISTANCE - 412.4

The AVG TRUE DISTANCE on 3 of the 4 parks is pretty close when you look at it. This was suprising to me.

But looking at all the information provided I ask you this, is this significant?
Does this give the New York Yankees any sort of an advantage over visiting ballclubs?
Should they be forced to modify this stadium to compensate for the amount homers being launched out?

Poll

Should the NYY be forced to modify their stadium?

YES

22 votes

NO

11 votes

Turn Bradford into a starter and have him start every game at NYS

21 votes

54 votes | Poll has closed

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.

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Comments

Cool stuff.

Although I’m not sure you can really call it an advantage that must be modified. Yes, the Yankees will probably load up on lefty power bats and reap the benefits, but at the same time, if this is illegal, you have to make Safeco illegal — which is death to right-handed power, and so on. Even the Trop seems to help lefties, but the difference isn’t as noticeable.

by R.J. Anderson on Jul 4, 2009 7:45 PM EDT reply actions

I understand you point

How much do you think this will affect pitchers being signed by the Yanks in the future? Probably not too much $ talks. But it will be interesting to see if they lose out on some big time pitchers in the future to the Mets hah

by Rjw123 on Jul 4, 2009 8:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Depends.

If you mean the pitchers signing 5+ year deals, I doubt it matters.

by R.J. Anderson on Jul 4, 2009 10:06 PM EDT up reply actions

I like the turn bradford

into a starter-idea

Matt Garza on his famous Count von Count impression:
"One strike, two strike, three strikes, you're out Ah ha ha ha"

by 4QB on Jul 4, 2009 9:28 PM EDT reply actions

Yea this is the most legitimate option of course...

by Rjw123 on Jul 4, 2009 9:37 PM EDT up reply actions

When i hear NYS

I think New York State….since I live in NY

"Doesn't Manny Ramirez look like the monster from Predator??" - Will Farrell as Harry Carey

by Gone Phishing on Jul 5, 2009 2:23 AM EDT reply actions

Im sorry to hear that...

by Rjw123 on Jul 5, 2009 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions

It's cool that they have to draw the catwalk for the Trop

I think the Yankees built it shorter just so they’d get more guys on the HR leaderboards (more All-Star appearances) & setting career records and whatnot… that and casual fans like HR. All of this (theoretically) leads to more ticket sales.

I don’t know if it’s actually an advantage though, doesn’t every team try to stock up on LH power already (since most pitchers are RH)?

Interesting point about pitchers not wanting to go there because of it, but I think it’s safe to assume most/all FO are smart enough to park adjust when evaluating someone, so it shouldn’t really hurt their value. Fan perception probably would take a hit though, whatever that’s worth.

by ChiBurbRaysFan on Jul 6, 2009 7:22 PM EDT reply actions