The Differences in the Various Minor Leagues

[redsmetz]

Over time, I've seen it mentioned in discussions that the stats we see from some players need to factor in the balance of a league. Is it a hitter's league or a pitcher's league. The most recent came this week in the discussions about Balentien and his stats in the PCL and that it was a hitter's league. It also came up in the Mesaraco conversation with the mention of him repeating High A and the hope, for that poster, that we may move to the Carolina League with the FSL being termed "pitcher favoring" league and the Carolina League being more neutral.

So here's my question? What is it that makes these particular leagues one or the other or neutral? Particularly I'm interested in hearing about the leagues our farm clubs are in. I understand that particular parks may play better one way or another. Is it a factor that the pitchers may be more advanced in a league and the batter's aren't quite up to speed with that. Or are their other factors?

Thanks for the input. I think it would be enlightening.

[GOYA]

Usually, it is the dimensions of the ballparks and prevailing atmospheric conditions.

[RedLegsToday]

Yeah, compare the two high-A leagues, the Florida State League and the California State League. Most of the teams in the FSL play at an elevation right about sea-level, in a climate that is hot and muggy, whereas a lot of the Cal League plays in the High Desert, which is 3-4000 feet above sea level, hot and dry. It's like that whole league is playing in Coors Field, pre-humidor.

[redsmetz]

So how do our clubs' leagues break down?

[Edd Roush]

Some one please correct me if I'm wrong, but I always imagined that Dayton, Carolina & Louisville are pretty neutral and Sarasota is "pitcher-favoring" for a lack of a better term.

[GOYA]

I've heard Sweet say that when it's hot and humid at Slugger Field, the ball tends to carry really well. Otherwise, I'd say it's fairly neutral.

[RedsManRick]

The differences in leagues are a combination of the concentration of parks in that league and the way teams choose to disperse their talent. That said, here are all of the minor league park factors for 2006-2008, with the Reds' parks bolded. Our parks tend to be slightly run friendly neutral, but outside of Dayton, they suppress HR.

http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/...k_multipliers/

2006-2008	R	H	2B	HR	BB	K
Albuquerque	1.18	1.11	1.07	1.17	0.96	0.91
Lancaster	1.14	1.08	1.04	1.21	1.01	0.96
High Desert	1.13	1.05	1.03	1.23	1.03	0.94
Erie		1.12	1.03	1.05	1.10	1.03	0.98
Asheville	1.11	1.05	1.08	1.18	1.02	0.94
Tri-City (NP)	1.11	1.06	1.06	1.36	1.04	1.05
Colorado Sprin	1.09	1.05	1.09	1.02	0.95	0.95
Las Vegas	1.09	1.06	1.08	1.08	1.06	1.01
Salem-Keizer	1.09	1.02	1.05	1.19	1.03	0.95
Daytona		1.06	1.02	1.01	1.10	1.01	1.05
Greensboro	1.06	1.02	0.99	1.23	1.02	0.97
Salt Lake	1.06	1.04	0.96	1.07	1.00	0.93
Springfield	1.06	1.01	1.06	1.22	1.00	1.04
Vero Beach	1.06	1.01	0.99	1.30	1.03	1.01
Visalia		1.06	1.03	1.04	1.19	1.01	0.98
Binghamton	1.05	1.05	1.04	1.05	1.03	1.04
Boise		1.05	1.05	0.94	1.11	0.93	0.92
Charlotte	1.05	1.01	0.99	1.32	0.97	1.03
Frederick	1.05	1.02	0.97	1.28	0.99	1.02
Jamestown	1.05	1.02	0.93	1.25	0.96	0.90
Kane County	1.05	1.05	1.00	1.05	1.03	1.03
Louisville	1.05	1.03	1.00	0.97	1.00	0.93
Vermont		1.05	1.02	0.99	1.03	1.07	1.01
Winston-Salem	1.05	1.03	1.06	1.06	1.03	0.98
Batavia		1.04	1.03	1.12	0.90	1.03	1.02
Cedar Rapids	1.04	1.02	0.98	0.98	0.99	0.99
Dunedin		1.04	1.03	1.06	1.10	0.97	1.03
Mahoning Valley	1.04	1.01	0.98	1.16	1.01	1.01
Tennessee	1.04	1.03	0.96	1.15	0.98	0.93
Tucson		1.04	1.01	1.06	0.92	1.03	1.08
West Virginia	1.04	1.02	1.06	1.00	0.98	1.02
Beloit		1.03	1.01	1.05	1.04	1.03	1.03
Buffalo		1.03	1.00	1.04	0.97	1.03	0.96
Chattanooga	1.03	1.02	1.03	1.06	0.99	0.99
Dayton		1.03	1.00	0.97	1.09	0.99	0.99 
Durham		1.03	1.00	1.00	1.19	1.03	1.06
Fort Wayne	1.03	1.02	1.04	1.07	1.04	0.98
Greenville	1.03	1.02	1.04	1.11	1.00	0.98
Harrisburg	1.03	1.02	0.96	1.13	0.96	0.98
Reading		1.03	1.00	0.96	1.22	1.02	0.99
Hagerstown	1.02	1.01	1.03	1.01	1.00	0.96
Hudson Valley	1.02	0.99	1.04	0.87	1.01	1.10
Lake County	1.02	1.01	0.99	1.08	1.00	1.00
Lakeland	1.02	1.01	1.00	1.04	1.03	0.97
Lansing		1.02	1.00	1.03	1.06	0.98	1.00
Midland		1.02	1.02	1.04	0.91	0.99	0.98
Mobile		1.02	0.99	1.00	1.15	1.02	1.00
Montgomery	1.02	1.02	1.04	1.06	0.98	0.99
Omaha		1.02	0.99	0.95	1.10	1.05	1.01
Pawtucket	1.02	1.00	0.97	1.18	1.04	1.05
St. Lucie	1.02	1.00	1.02	1.02	0.98	0.97
Tampa		1.02	1.00	0.98	0.97	0.98	0.97
Tulsa		1.02	1.01	1.05	1.08	1.03	1.08
West Tennessee	1.02	1.00	1.06	0.98	1.03	0.99
Carolina	1.01	1.00	1.13	0.95	1.02	0.98
Clinton		1.01	0.99	1.01	1.00	1.01	0.99
Iowa		1.01	1.01	1.11	0.99	1.04	1.07
Kannapolis	1.01	1.01	1.02	0.91	1.00	1.00
Lowell		1.01	1.00	1.01	0.92	1.00	1.04
Lynchburg	1.01	1.02	1.13	0.91	0.97	0.95
New Hampshire	1.01	0.99	1.04	1.05	1.00	1.00
Oneonta		1.01	1.01	0.98	0.78	0.97	0.93
Richmond	1.01	1.01	1.05	0.86	0.98	0.97
Akron		1.00	1.01	0.98	0.88	0.98	0.94
Auburn		1.00	0.99	1.01	0.97	1.03	1.03
Hickory		1.00	1.01	1.00	1.13	0.99	0.98
New Britain	1.00	1.00	1.07	0.99	1.00	1.00
NW Arkansas	1.00	1.01	1.05	0.97	1.01	1.00
Portland (AA)	1.00	0.98	1.00	1.01	1.05	1.02
Rochester	1.00	1.00	1.03	1.00	0.99	1.04
Sarasota	1.00	1.00	1.06	0.93	1.02	1.00
Spokane		1.00	0.99	0.93	1.18	1.01	1.02
Stockton	1.00	0.98	0.95	1.22	1.02	1.04
Brooklyn	0.99	0.99	1.05	0.99	0.95	1.02
Burlington	0.99	0.98	1.01	1.01	1.06	1.00
Corpus Christi	0.99	0.99	0.96	1.08	0.97	0.98
Eugene		0.99	0.98	0.99	1.14	1.01	1.06
Frisco		0.99	0.99	0.95	1.05	1.03	1.01
Indianapolis	0.99	1.01	1.00	0.98	0.96	0.97
Kinston		0.99	0.97	0.95	1.08	1.03	1.05
Lehigh Valley	0.99	1.00	0.99	0.98	0.99	1.00
Potomac		0.99	1.01	0.97	0.98	0.94	1.00
South Bend	0.99	1.00	1.05	0.92	0.99	0.90
State College	0.99	1.00	1.02	0.98	1.01	0.97
Syracuse	0.99	1.02	0.99	0.99	1.02	0.96
Tri-City (NW)	0.99	1.01	1.06	0.77	1.03	1.09
Wisconsin	0.99	1.00	1.01	0.95	0.98	1.08
Altoona		0.98	1.02	1.00	0.91	0.99	0.95
Bakersfield	0.98	0.98	1.00	1.05	1.03	0.99
Brevard		0.98	1.00	0.96	0.98	1.02	1.03
Columbus	0.98	0.97	0.96	1.04	1.00	1.01
Columbus (A)	0.98	0.98	0.98	1.09	0.99	1.02
Everett		0.98	0.98	1.02	1.13	1.04	1.08
Fresno		0.98	0.97	0.98	1.06	1.01	1.02
Huntsville	0.98	1.00	0.96	1.07	1.01	1.04
Lexington	0.98	1.00	0.98	1.08	0.95	1.01
Myrtle Beach	0.98	1.00	0.94	0.98	1.04	1.02
Oklahoma	0.98	1.01	1.00	0.91	0.97	0.98
Rome		0.98	1.01	1.00	0.81	0.98	0.97
Salem		0.98	1.00	1.08	0.89	0.98	0.93
Scranton	0.98	0.99	1.00	0.94	1.01	1.01
Yakima		0.98	0.98	1.02	0.85	0.99	0.96
Augusta		0.97	0.98	0.97	0.78	1.04	1.01
Clearwater	0.97	0.98	1.00	1.09	1.01	0.98
Lakewood	0.97	0.99	1.05	0.80	0.99	1.05
Mississippi	0.97	1.00	1.00	0.83	0.98	1.02
Modesto		0.97	1.00	1.06	0.80	0.99	0.99
Round Rock	0.97	1.00	0.95	0.99	0.98	0.99
Savannah	0.97	0.97	0.95	0.98	1.00	1.02
Aberdeen	0.96	0.98	0.96	1.00	0.99	1.04
Arkansas	0.96	0.99	0.97	0.94	0.97	1.00
Fort Myers	0.96	0.98	0.95	0.91	1.02	1.02
Jacksonville	0.96	0.96	0.93	0.96	1.00	1.06
Jupiter		0.96	0.98	0.98	0.83	0.97	0.99
Memphis		0.96	0.97	0.96	1.00	1.00	1.02
Peoria		0.96	0.99	1.00	0.98	0.97	1.00
Quad Cities	0.96	0.98	0.97	0.99	0.98	0.98
Rancho Cucamong	0.96	0.99	0.99	0.96	0.97	0.99
Staten Island	0.96	0.99	0.97	1.09	1.02	0.96
Birmingham	0.95	0.98	0.95	0.83	0.98	1.00
Bowie		0.95	0.97	1.00	1.03	1.01	1.03
Charleston	0.95	0.98	0.99	0.83	1.01	1.02
Great Lakes	0.95	0.97	0.92	1.03	1.00	1.08
Lake Elsinore	0.95	0.96	1.01	0.84	1.02	0.97
Toledo		0.95	0.98	1.07	0.90	0.99	1.02
Vancouver	0.95	0.99	1.04	0.72	1.01	0.94
West Michigan	0.95	1.00	0.96	0.86	0.97	1.02
Nashville	0.94	0.96	1.00	0.98	1.00	1.09
Norfolk		0.94	0.98	0.96	0.81	1.02	1.01
Sacramento	0.94	0.96	0.97	0.89	0.99	1.10
Tacoma		0.94	0.96	0.96	0.93	1.03	1.06
Wilmington	0.94	0.96	0.94	0.84	1.06	1.07
Inland Empire	0.93	0.98	0.96	0.79	0.99	1.03
Palm Beach	0.93	0.98	1.00	0.82	0.96	1.00
Portland (AAA)	0.93	0.94	0.97	1.05	1.02	0.99
San Antonio	0.93	0.99	1.00	0.84	0.99	1.03
Trenton		0.93	0.98	0.99	0.86	0.98	1.05
Williamsport	0.93	0.97	0.98	1.04	1.00	1.00
Connecticut	0.92	0.96	0.92	0.81	0.96	1.02
Delmarva	0.91	0.95	0.93	0.89	1.04	1.08
New Orleans	0.91	0.95	0.97	0.93	1.00	1.07
San Jose	0.89	0.94	0.97	0.87	0.97	1.08