Center Field Wall at City Field Gets Chopped in Half

[metirish]

I'm trying to picture the scene , will this make much of a difference?

Mets' Citi Field to become more homer-friendly next season; center-field wall gets chopped to 8 feet

Broadcaster Gary Cohen may be able to proclaim, "It's outta here!" a little more often in 2010. And David Wright may not be as inclined to frustratingly fling his Great Gazoo helmet, or whatever protective wear he uses, during the upcoming season. The height of Citi Field's center-field wall will be sliced in half, making the ballpark more homer-friendly, the Daily News has learned. Last season, the wall measured 16 feet in front of the sparsely used Home Run Apple. Now, with the second level of padding being removed, it will measure eight feet in the middle of the outfield. Still, as the Daily News exclusively reported in September, the stadium's spacious dimensions won't be altered. The Mets hit 95 homers last season, by far the fewest in the majors. San Francisco ranked 29th with 122. Wright, whose home-run power is more to right-center than the left-field line, saw his power plummet as the Mets moved from Shea Stadium to Citi Field. He went from a career-high 33 homers in 2008 to 10 homers last season - five at home, and five on the road. Greg Rybarcyzk, a former U.S. Navy nuclear engineer who runs HitTrackeronline.com, concluded that Wright hit nine balls in play at Citi Field last season that would have been homers at Shea Stadium - although that discrepancy won't be fully addressed by the modest outfield adjustment. Regardless, the Mets' 2009 power outage wasn't exclusively a Citi Field phenomenon. They ranked last in the majors in road homers last season with 46. Pittsburgh had the second-fewest with 50. The Yankees and Phillies, who play in hitter-friendly ballparks, also ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in road homers with 116 and 108, respectively. Meanwhile, an average of 1.60 homers per game were hit at Citi Field last season, more than at five other NL ballparks - San Diego (1.59), San Francisco (1.59), Los Angeles (1.57), Atlanta (1.52) and St. Louis (1.48). And visiting teams actually hit two more homers at Citi Field last season than they did at Shea Stadium in '08. If Citi Field is imposing for hitters, it didn't scare away free agent Jason Bay, at least when the Mets offered the most money - a four-year, $66 million contract. And it wasn't as if pitchers lined up this offseason to pitch at Citi Field. The Mets' most notable pitching signings have been Kelvim Escobar, Ryota Igarashi and Josh Fogg.

Wait , the Mets signed Josh Fogg?

[Benjamin Grimm]

It sounds like they're just getting rid of that stupid tab that protruded right in front of the apple.

And that's a good move; that tab looked, as I said, stupid.

I don't know how much of a difference it will make. But I'm sure before long somebody will come forward with a study of how many balls hit the tab on the fly in 2009.

[soupcan]

Huh?



So, even if they remove the padding won't balls still bounce back into play off the base of the apple? Will they move the apple back or is there a well of some sort in between the wall and the apple that's not visible in this picture?

[soupcan]

Hmmmmmmm.

[metsmarathon]

so... there'll be an orange line at the top of the first layer of padding, and above that will be out of play, and therefore a homer? i don't think they're removing structural elements of the wall; only the padding, right?

good thing we have video replay, i guess...

[soupcan]

Huh?



So, even if they remove the padding won't balls still bounce back into play off the base of the apple? Will they move the apple back or is there a well of some sort in between the wall and the apple that's not visible in this picture?

[Benjamin Grimm]

They may have to reconfigure the apple a bit. Maybe move it back, and create the "well" that soupcan mentioned.

But if they're really going to "halve" the height of the wall, I think that would mean removing everything above the seam in the first picture that soup posted. And in that case, we're talking about more than the area immediately in front of the apple.

[soupcan]

I think marathon got it right. They'll remove the wall above the seam but leave the tab in front of the apple. On the tab they'll put an orange line indicating the 'top' of the wall. If a ball is hit to the sides of the apple it'll be literally 'outtahere', but it'll just have to hit above an orange line if it goes dead center. Right?

[Ceetar]

I think they're going to remove the wall entirely, make the apple a little more visible.

I mean, otherwise why remove the padding, just draw the line and be done with it. That's why they have instant replay.

[Guest Edgy DC]

And, as attractive as that lede may have been it was probably 100% wrong. I'll estimate the number of homers David Wright lost to having a 16-foot centerfield wall --- as opposed to an eight-foot one --- was between zero and one. I suppose two is possible.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

I think it's a good move even if the only thing it accomplishes is the possibility of more Endy catches.

[metirish]

It shows that they (Wilpons) listen.....

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I remember at least one to left center hitting halfway up the wall. It was one of those shots that everybody thought was gonna go and didn't.

Add Citifield's dimensions to the list of things that have been way overfocused on this winter.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I agree that too much has been made of this, but I also approve of the change.

[Ceetar]

Hmmmmmmm.

[metirish]

The Mets hit 95 homers last season, by far the fewest in the majors. San Francisco ranked 29th with 122.

To think that Bonds hit 73 that season.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm pretty sure I recall both Carloses dinging balls off the upper portion of the apple padding early last year.

[Guest attgig]

http://www.wcbs880.com/pages/6311767.php

some pictures of construction going on in the hof & bullpen.... wish they would've brought in the fence in mo's zone.

[Vic Sage]

now if they do the same thing in LF, Left CF, Right CF and RF, they'll on the right road. Short fences make great catches, and more HRs.

[Frayed Knot]

I think they're going to remove the wall entirely, make the apple a little more visible.

[Ceetar]

Because determining an 'over a line' HR stinks while over the wall HRs are good.
Replay should be used for those shots that slip through the cracks, so to speak, rather than having a wall designed with flaws for replay to correct. The fewer umpire huddles we see the better.[/quote:1hsvdsze]


But they said they're lowering the wall from 16feet, and the only place it's that high is directly in front of the Apple. If you're standing on flat ground, even the 8 foot wall will block the Apple in it's canister.

[Benjamin Grimm]

The article says that the height is going to be reduced from 16 feet to 8 feet. I assume that the top of the tab is the 16-foot mark. The bottom of the tab is more than halfway up that section of the wall; simply removing the tab wouldn't bring the fence to 8 feet; it would probably be more like 11 or 12 feet. The 8-foot mark appears to be the seam, as a few of us have stated above. Therefore, if they're reducing the wall to 8 feet, then it will be quite a long stretch of fence that will be lowered. In the overhead shot that soupcan posted earlier, we see the higher fence extending into right field up until the blue advertising sign. I don't remember what the left-field side of the apple looked like; I think that's where we see the gradual slope of the top of the wall. Maybe they'll be removing that as well.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Oops, here's this from Brian Costa of the Star Ledger:

A Mets spokesman said the area of the wall being lowered spans only the width of the Apple, where the height of the wall briefly went from 10 feet, 10 inches to 16 feet last season. And the park's spacious dimensions will remain unchanged.

So maybe in that photo, the top of the tab is only 10'10".

I wonder, though, how the wall briefly became 16 feet tall. Does anyone remember that? I have no recollection of that at all. Maybe it happened during the two weeks I was out of the country?

[Valadius]

Simply on a matter of principle, I would ask that the walls all come down to a maximum height of 10 feet. If an outfielder can't reach up and catch a fly ball as it's heading over the wall, it robs the moment of a certain breathtaking property - that split second of wondering if it's a home run or an out.

[seawolf17]

Simply on a matter of principle, I would ask that the walls all come down to a maximum height of 10 feet. If an outfielder can't reach up and catch a fly ball as it's heading over the wall, it robs the moment of a certain breathtaking property - that split second of wondering if it's a home run or an out.[/quote:3snv2av7]
I agree; unless it's a legendary feature like The Monster, between eight and ten feet is ideal.

[Vic Sage]

Either that or, as mentioned, you're going to have to find somewhere to move the giant fruit.

yeah, i hate it when Harvey Fierstein sits right in front of me.