The following is an excerpt from the 2015 Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide which is on sale now:
Why Ballparks Matter
By Ted Schuster
RANK | PARK NAME | RUNS | HR | H | 2B | 3B | BB |
1 | Coors Field (Denver, Colorado) | 1.5 | 1.39 | 1.32 | 1.22 | 1.9 | 1.05 |
2 | Chase Field (Phoenix, Arizona) | 1.15 | 1.19 | 1.05 | 1.08 | 1.79 | 0.94 |
3 | Target Field (Minneapolis, Minnesota) | 1.12 | 1.02 | 1.08 | 1.08 | 1.41 | 1.08 |
4 | Busch Stadium (St. Louis, Missouri) | 1.1 | 0.97 | 1.01 | 1.19 | 1.47 | 1.09 |
5 | Fenway Park (Boston, Massachusetts) | 1.07 | 0.72 | 1.07 | 1.52 | 0.86 | 1.17 |
6 | Nationals Park (Washington, D.C.) | 1.07 | 0.7 | 1.08 | 1.13 | 0.38 | 1.08 |
7 | Globe Life Park in Arlington (Arlington, Texas) | 1.05 | 0.96 | 0.98 | 0.8 | 2.17 | 0.97 |
8 | U.S. Cellular Field (Chicago, Illinois) | 1.05 | 1.05 | 1.01 | 1 | 1.1 | 1.05 |
9 | Rogers Centre (Toronto, Ontario) | 1.04 | 1.31 | 1.03 | 1.11 | 1.33 | 0.92 |
10 | O.co Coliseum (Oakland, California) | 1.02 | 0.9 | 1.02 | 1.11 | 1.2 | 1.05 |
11 | Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri) | 1.01 | 0.84 | 1.01 | 1.04 | 1.07 | 0.95 |
12 | Marlins Park (Miami, Florida) | 1.01 | 0.79 | 0.99 | 1.03 | 1.92 | 0.95 |
13 | Minute Maid Park (Houston, Texas) | 1.01 | 1.17 | 1.01 | 1.05 | 1.45 | 0.96 |
14 | Comerica Park (Detroit, Michigan) | 1 | 1.01 | 0.98 | 0.8 | 1.83 | 1.02 |
15 | Tropicana Field (St. Petersburg, Florida) | 1 | 0.81 | 0.97 | 0.88 | 0.68 | 1.11 |
16 | Miller Park (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) | 1 | 1.14 | 0.97 | 0.86 | 0.52 | 0.98 |
17 | PNC Park (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) | 0.98 | 0.71 | 1.04 | 1.08 | 0.81 | 0.99 |
18 | Great American Ball Park (Cincinnati, Ohio) | 0.96 | 1.28 | 0.96 | 0.9 | 1.11 | 1.11 |
19 | Progressive Field (Cleveland, Ohio) | 0.95 | 1.08 | 0.98 | 1.03 | 0.53 | 0.96 |
20 | Yankee Stadium (New York, New York) | 0.95 | 1.47 | 1.01 | 0.88 | 0.53 | 0.96 |
21 | Turner Field (Atlanta, Georgia) | 0.94 | 1.12 | 0.97 | 0.83 | 0.63 | 1.01 |
22 | Oriole Park at Camden Yards (Baltimore, Maryland) | 0.93 | 0.94 | 0.98 | 0.94 | 0.64 | 1 |
23 | Wrigley Field (Chicago, Illinois) | 0.93 | 0.94 | 0.98 | 1.07 | 1.04 | 1 |
24 | Citizens Bank Park (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) | 0.93 | 1.21 | 0.97 | 0.91 | 0.84 | 1 |
25 | AT&T Park (San Francisco, California) | 0.92 | 0.68 | 0.95 | 0.92 | 1.81 | 0.99 |
26 | Angel Stadium of Anaheim (Anaheim, California) | 0.92 | 0.84 | 0.98 | 0.99 | 0.55 | 0.92 |
27 | Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles, California) | 0.91 | 1.23 | 0.91 | 1.06 | 0.35 | 0.84 |
28 | Citi Field (New York, New York) | 0.85 | 0.96 | 0.92 | 1.04 | 0.67 | 0.98 |
29 | Petco Park (San Diego, California) | 0.83 | 0.81 | 0.92 | 0.91 | 0.96 | 1.06 |
30 | Safeco Field (Seattle, Washington) | 0.83 | 1.05 | 0.89 | 0.79 | 0.47 | 0.88 |
***To read the above: A mark over 1.00 can be read as a positive percentage for the offense. As an example, a mark of 1.18 means the park played at a rate that was 18 percent better than the league average. A mark of 0.96 would mean the stadium was four percent below the league average.
Ballpark Factors are definitely something worth noting when drafting and tracking free agent moves, but it is also important not to let them change your position too much on certain players. Great hitters will hit anywhere no matter the environment, but the pitchers (to me) are the ones that could have the most variance depending on where they are pitching. For example, pitchers with a big fly ball tendency could perform better in bigger ballparks or parks where the ball does not carry that well (i.e. Dodger Stadium at night). Then there is, of course, Coors Field, which seems to have to gone back to the days of the late 1990s and early 2000s when everyone seemed to have no problem hitting there. The rating factors for both runs and home runs of a park should be noted but not a final determining factor in drafting any particular player.
A full breakdown of each MLB ballpark and how they affect fantasy performance is in the 2015 Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide
To read more of this article and 179+ more pages of Fantasy Baseball Bliss, get the 2015 Fantasy Alarm Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide now. Best of all is that you can get the Draft Guide AND the 2015 MLB Assistant G.M. FREE with a $10 deposit to Fantasy Aces.