Here's something I wouldn't have guessed ...

[Frayed Knot]

Park Factors with large differences between HRs by LHBs & RHBs:

PARK	HR-LHB	HR-RHB
ASTROS	84	116
A's	97	114
CUBS	97	137
D-RAYS	98	75
MARINERS	113	96
METS	115	77
BoSOX	76	105
ROX	147	127
TIGERS	93	74
CHISOX	121	137

Data from 2002-2004:
100 = "Neutral". 100+ = favors hitters, lower than 100 = favors pitching

Represents only how the park has influenced [u:93d2f6376a]HRs[/u:93d2f6376a] in that time, not runs in general and shows only those parks shown with a 15% or greater difference in HR per 'handedness'.



I wouldn't have figured Shea to give an advantage to either side over the other.

[Guest rpackrat]

The wind blows in from LF, especially in April. That hurts righty power hitters.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I thought I'd read that before too. The other thing I understood was, that while Shea tends to depress offense in general, it depresses actual hits (singles, doubles, triples) to a greater degree than it does home runs. This doesn't seem intuitive, but I suppose it's possible given that Shea plays 15% better than the average park for LH HR hitters, as shown above.

[Frayed Knot]

The fact that it depresses RHB-HRs to a greater degree than it helps LHB-HRs and that there are more RH-ABs than Left implies that it does also depress HRs overall.

I was just surpised by the disparity between the two. Yeah the wind blows in - during the spring especially - but I never thought of it as primarily affecting one side more than the other.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Among other factors too subtle for me to speculate on, I imagine part of the reason is the giant windscreen in right center.

[MFS62]

Thanks, I had heard that over the years, but never saw the numbers.
I love it when posters on other boards used the "Shea is a pitcher's park" arguement when discussing a power hitting acquisition without looking into the splits you just posted.

Later

[Elster88]

How many years left on Floyd's contract? He's signed through 2006 right?

[Frayed Knot]

]"Shea is a pitcher's park" arguement when discussing a power hitting acquisition without looking into the splits you just posted

Yup. That's what this article was essentially about:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4250
(P.S. BP "Premium" articles are free through next week)

]How many years left on Floyd's contract? He's signed through 2006 right?

Correctamundo!

[Willets Point]

So it's not that Shea is a pitcher's park, but that the Mets can't hit for shit.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Did I mention that I'd really like us to sign Adam Dunn?

Pretty please, with sugar on top?

[soupcan]

Strawberry dug that windscreen.

[Frayed Knot]

Strawberry & Dunn don't need the windscreen. They could hit the ball out of any park and that includes Yellowstone.

[smg58]

I'd like to see if those numbers change if you add more years. The White Sox park is friendlier to righties than Colorado? I find that hard to believe (although I just cut the amount of money I'd be willing to spend on Paul Konerko this offseason by about two-thirds). Does anybody know where the rest of the league's stadiums fit?

[Frayed Knot]

Stuff I've read on this topic over the years seems to indicate that a 3-year sample is usually sufficient to get you a true rating while 1-year samples can vary wildly - although things certainly could change w/a larger sample.

And remember, this is just measuring HRs not hitting or run-scoring in general. One thing about Cape Coors is that not only does it boost HRs, but that OF is so large that singles, doubles & triples increase as well (except during Monday & Tuesday of this week of course).

[Guest Edgy DC]

Am I right then in concluding that a theoretical park that gets an 85 rating against righthanders and a 115 rating against lefthanders is still a below average homerun park net, due to there being more righthanded batters?

Or am I over-thinking this thing?

Or would that wash because there are a larger percentage of home run hitters batting lefthanded?

Or am I really over-thinking this thing?

[MFS62]

Edgy, I would think that you are correct that the higher number of right handed hitters would skew the overall park numbers, the best mathematical term I can come up with is the weighted average. That's probably why Shea is considered a pitcher's park.

Later