Padres discussing moving in fences at PETCO

[Tony Cloninger]

So the hitters have had the zone shrink for them.....ballparks built to help them hit homers...... PED allowed in the game to help them get stronger and no longer turn into old men by 36-37 and play through the dog days of August.....Expansion twice in 5 years to dilute pitching.... but they whine every time (Like Juan Gonzalez did when he came to Detroit) any time ... ballpark is built that does not cater to them.

Florida park is going to be big as well..... Twins is big as well. Good for them. You just have to build the team to fit the park..... 1985 Cards.... lots of singles/doubles hitters with speed...and a one big bopper in the middle (Jack Clark)

I dislike Bowden for the way he could not help this organization develop pitching or his lack of understanding of it.... but his idea, along with Allen...to build this ballpark to cater to one hitter, while still not developing the pitching needed for it.... is even worse.

[Ghosts of 1990]

So the hitters have had the zone shrink for them.....ballparks built to help them hit homers...... PED allowed in the game to help them get stronger and no longer turn into old men by 36-37 and play through the dog days of August.....Expansion twice in 5 years to dilute pitching.... but they whine every time (Like Juan Gonzalez did when he came to Detroit) any time ... ballpark is built that does not cater to them.

Florida park is going to be big as well..... Twins is big as well. Good for them. You just have to build the team to fit the park..... 1985 Cards.... lots of singles/doubles hitters with speed...and a one big bopper in the middle (Jack Clark)

I dislike Bowden for the way he could not help this organization develop pitching or his lack of understanding of it.... but his idea, along with Allen...to build this ballpark to cater to one hitter, while still not developing the pitching needed for it.... is even worse.

Did Bowden lobby for the short right field porch? I do know that it was built with Griffey in mind. Thought it was peculiar. Not like Junior was 22 at the time.

[Tony Cloninger]

Did Bowden lobby for the short right field porch? I do know that it was built with Griffey in mind. Thought it was peculiar. Not like Junior was 22 at the time.

From what I understand/read...that was a factor in the way it was done. Not like he needed that much help to hit. It backfired on them.

[MikeThierry]

Florida park is going to be big as well..... Twins is big as well. Good for them. You just have to build the team to fit the park..... 1985 Cards.... lots of singles/doubles hitters with speed...and a one big bopper in the middle (Jack Clark)

Tony, just like I said, they better just put astro turf down on that field in Petco and Florida if we are getting back to that Whiteyball type baseball again.

[traderumor]

The ball doesn't carry in SD. It is frustrating seeing balls die there, but Jack Murphy was also a tough homer park. It's a natural phenomena, embrace it, love doubles and triples, get gap to gap hitters. Don't dink around with the fences.

Moving the fences back at GABP? Is cheap homers really an issue? I've watched many homerless games at GABP this season.

[Ghosts of 1990]

I love the variability factor of our park. You can see a pitcher's duel and you don't see quite the amount of slugfests that people who are outside of Cincinnati would say that we do.

[OesterPoster]

GABP's HR factor this year only puts them 5th in all of baseball. I don't think that's bad.

Also, I don't watch enough Texas games to understand how they can be 2nd in HR, and 1st in triples by a wide margin. I can understand the other high triples parks, like Comerica and Citi Field...but how can a park give up lots of HRs and triples?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor/_/sort/HRFactor

[Chip R]

Fences on rails, move them in for your team at bat, out for the other team.

Lets get this done.

Bill Veeck did that when he was running the minor league Milwaukee Brewers. He was told in no uncertain terms to stop it.

I think you could actually move the fences in at Petco and it would still be a pitcher's park. But, remember, the park giveth and the park taketh away. For all those balls hit that would be a HR in GABP, the Padres hit some balls to that would have HRs here.

[Caveman Techie]

I think GABP gets an undeserved rep as a bandbox stadium. It is a pull hitters homerun heaven, but once you get off the corners it quickly turns in to just another park.

[TOBTTReds]

I think GABP gets an undeserved rep as a bandbox stadium. It is a pull hitters homerun heaven, but once you get off the corners it quickly turns in to just another park.

Sorry, but this just isn't correct. The lack of arcing all the way around makes this a very small park. CF comes to a point, so just imaging how much is missing right there. This is a bad diagram attached (the arc is too big), but you'll get the idea of how our gaps are so short compared to Riverfront. Here's something put together by hit tracker online:

Average fence distances for MLB parks
Here's what I've got, using my fence distance database, which has distances every 1 degree across the 90 degree arc of fair territory for each park. Overhangs not included. This should stand in pretty well for total fair ground area...

The smaller numbers mean the fences are shorter, and vice-versa...

Note that the top two both have extra-high LF fences, as does the fourth one on the list to a degree. On the deep end, Coors is at altitude, and Kauffman has medium-high altitude and high temperatures all summer.



Park Fence Avg. Dist.
Fenway Park -9.4
Jacobs Field -8.2
Citizens Bank Park -7.9
Great American Ball Park -7.6
Tropicana Field -6.6
U.S. Cellular Field -6.2
Minute Maid Park -6.0
Oriole Park at Camden Yards -4.0
New Yankee Stadium -3.9
Metrodome -3.4
Dodger Stadium -3.3
Miller Park -3.2
Safeco Field -2.6
Nationals Park -2.0
McAfee Coliseum -1.8
Wrigley Field -1.2
Dolphins Stadium -0.5
Rogers Centre -0.3
MLB Average Ballpark 0.0
Rangers Ballpark in Arlington 2.0
AT&T Park 2.1
PNC Park 2.3
PETCO Park 3.0
Busch Stadium 4.7
Chase Field 6.2
Turner Field 6.6
Angels Stadium 7.3
Comerica Park 7.6
Citi Field 9.1
Kauffman Stadium 12.3
Coors Field 14.5

[WVRed]

I'd like to see a stadium with Polo Grounds dimension.

As for sluggers, you can always build your teams around speed and gap hitting. Chicks might dig the long ball but overall hitting would lead to a lot of high scoring games without a home run.

[TOBTTReds]

Also, I don't watch enough Texas games to understand how they can be 2nd in HR, and 1st in triples by a wide margin. I can understand the other high triples parks, like Comerica and Citi Field...but how can a park give up lots of HRs and triples? http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor/_/sort/HRFactor

First, the ball just flies there. They also have rather deep gaps, which makes most gap shots triples, but if you get the ball elevated in that Texas air, it's gonna leave the yard.

Go back to previous years and you'll see Coors Field was near the top in HR and 3B too (I randomly picked 2003, it was first in 3B, and third in HR).

Also for park factors, one year is a relatively small sample size, let alone 2 months.

[TOBTTReds]

I'd like to see a stadium with Polo Grounds dimension.

As for sluggers, you can always build your teams around speed and gap hitting. Chicks might dig the long ball but overall hitting would lead to a lot of high scoring games without a home run.

That will create some triples and HR's!

[MikeThierry]

That will create some triples and HR's!

That has to be the goofiest dimensions of any baseball field in the history of baseball.

[kaldaniels]

That has to be the goofiest dimensions of any baseball field in the history of baseball.

Check-swing, opposite field home run, anyone?