2020 MLB Draft Guide: Ballpark Factors

Ballparks are unique in each and every way. No two ballparks have the same size/area, facades, or beer prices. Alright, that third one might be a lie, I haven’t fact-checked that one. But a ballpark is almost like a thumb print for baseball teams. While football fields, basketball courts, and hockey rinks are always played on the same dimensions, ballparks are all different. Fenway Park’s left field can be difficult to play for visiting left fielders if you aren’t used to how line drives bounce off the Green Monster. Wrigley Field’s green ivy along the outfield wall can cause similar problems if a ball is lost in the lush wall, thus resulting in a ground rule double for the hitter. Oriole Park at Camden Yards at one point actually paid homage to both parks featuring a smaller version of the Green Monster in deep center field with a little ivy garnish as well. There are certain features to each ballpark that we’ll touch on as well as some new renovations to stadiums as well. And as always, we’ll start with Coors Field.

Coors Field and Humidors

Coors Field in Denver, Colorado sits almost a full mile above sea level. There is actually a row of purple seats in Coors Field’s upper-level seating that represents the 5,280-foot mark above sea level.

If you’re no stranger to this article in recent years, we always touch on the science of baseball and the air density. The higher you go, the thinner the air is. So it becomes more difficult to breathe especially for athletes with sickle cell anemia. Typically, only football players with sickle cell anemia are impacted by Denver’s harsh conditions. Sickle Cell Anemia is when your red blood cells are shaped like crescent moons and they tend to get stuck in blood vessels. When you combine colder weather with the high altitude, the red blood cells in sickle cell patients have more trouble delivering oxygen to parts of the body. Now this can still impact sickle cell baseball players even in April where it’s still fairly cold in Denver. But if you’ve ever wondered why a sickle cell athlete may skip the team trip to Denver, well now you know and can impress that pretty girl or handsome guy at the bar next time.

Back to baseball. Now when the air is thinner it is less dense. So the ball naturally travels further. There is less drag and resistance on a baseball traveling through the air, so the ball will travel further. Now when it gets warmer and more humid, the air is even less dense. Water molecules weigh less than air molecules so the higher the humidity (AKA the more moisture in the air), the less dense the air becomes. Humidity and warmer temperatures typically help all ballparks in the summer. However, when Coors was originally constructed, scientists actually believed it was the dry air, not the thin air that gave us the Coors Effect.

Humidors: The Good and Bad… But Mostly Bad

When Coors Field first opened it was nicknamed “Coors Canaveral” as a reference to Cape Canaveral where NASA blasts rocket ships into space. For the Rockies and Diamondbacks, prior to humidors, the baseballs were a little drier and elastic because of the semi-arid/steppe climate conditions. So, by storing the baseballs in a humidified environment, the balls lose the elasticity and actually become a little heavier. They don’t come off the bat as fast and they don’t travel as far or bounce as far. This will typically help even the playing field for pitchers toeing the rubber in Coors Field… And now Chase Field.

When Coors Field introduced its humidor in 2002 there was a significant drop in home run totals. However, Coors Field still finds itself at the top of the offensive charts at the end of each season. If you look at Fantasy Alarm's Ballpark Ratings you’ll see that Coors Field consistently ranks toward the top in home runs and runs almost every single year. In 2019, Coors was first in runs, third in home runs. In 2018, it was second in runs and seventh in dingers. In 2017, Coors Canaveral was first in runs, but 15^th in home runs due to some uncharacteristically elevated home run totals at other parks. As you can see, despite the humidor, Coors is still a hitter’s haven.

The same cannot be said for Chase Field. We’re now two seasons into the Chase Field Humidor experiment and the results are pretty legitimate as of right now. When it was announced that Chase Field would be installing a humidor to store its baseballs, physicist Alan Nathan from the University of Illinois predicted a 25-50% drop in home runs. This proved to be a little on the higher side. In 2017, there were 215 home runs hit at Chase Field. In 2018, the first year with the humidor, there were 171 home runs hit, which is a drop in about 20.46%. In 2017, Paul Goldschmidt slashed .321/.422/.591 in Chase Field before the humidor with 20 home runs and 61 RBI. In Goldschmidt’s final season with Arizona, and the team’s first season with the humidor, Goldschmidt slashed .238/.363/.420 with 12 home runs and 32 RBI in Chase Field. His first home run in Chase that year didn’t come until May 30^th, nearly two months into the season. And for what it’s worth, in 2019 the home run total went back up to 207 in Chase Field, but due to the juiced ball there were at least 200 home runs in all but six MLB ballparks (Tropicana Field, PNC Park, Busch Stadium, Marlins Park, Kauffman Stadium, and Oracle Park).

Per our Ballpark Ratings, in 2017 Chase Field ranked third in runs and fourth in home runs. In 2018, the rankings dropped to 11^th in runs and 19^th in home runs. Last season, in 2019, Chase Field ranked 16^th in runs and 20^th in home runs. Now obviously the roster is much different than it was in 2017. They boasted studs like Paul Goldschmidt (despite his 2018 struggles) and J.D. Martinez who joined the Boston Red Sox prior to the 2018 season. But Ballpark Factors combines both the performances of the Arizona Diamondbacks as well as the visiting teams. And overall, over the course of two years, we’ve seen a decrease in offense at Chase Field. You no longer need to fear hitters in Chase Field as much as you used to and based on your feelings you can either thank or blame that damn humidor.

Gone With The Wind… A Farewell to Globe Life Park

Wind can play a pretty significant role in offense or defense, depending on how you look at it. Naturally wind is an intriguing factor to look at especially if you’re a DFS player. If wind is blowing out, that will obviously help hitters. If it is blowing in, then it’s beneficial to pitchers. Certain ballparks may have their own unique wind patterns. We will talk about the Texas Rangers new ballpark shortly, but up until about 2013, Globe Life Park in Arlington was a power hitter’s dream. The ball just seemed to fly out of the ballpark with ease. Perhaps the heat and humidity factors mentioned above played a part, but from 2008-2012 Globe Life Park averaged over 200 home runs each year. Why? In the summer the wind would blow in from the South-facing outfield. It would basically be “turned around” at home plate because of the closed-in structure behind home plate and it would go right back out to the outfield. In 2013, the Rangers did a renovation to the stadium and added the Capital One Club that opened the Northwest structure behind home plate. Because of this, the wind was no longer sent back to the outfield. After the construction there were 159 home runs at Globe Life Park in 2013, but during its latter years Globe Life Park regained its home run appeal… Thanks Joey Gallo .

Oracle Park in San Francisco sits right on the bay, so you’d assume a natural wind to be blowing in and yes that argument does make some sense. It’s only 309-feet to the right field foul pole, but the 25-foot-high wall takes a steep angle towards center field. Not mention wind blowing in from the water in the summer tends to push balls back toward the power alley where fly balls tend to die and be caught. Naturally on a day-to-day basis the wind and weather changes, so check the weather each morning to get a feel for how the wind is acting for each game to get a bigger advantage in DFS.

Playing Indoors

Two years ago we did a deep dive into stadiums with retractable roofs. Currently there are seven baseball teams with retractable roofs: the Arizona Diamondbacks (Chase Field), Miami Marlins (Marlins Park), Milwaukee Brewers (Miller Park), Houston Astros (Minute Maid Park), Toronto Blue Jays (Rogers Centre), the Seattle Mariners (T-Mobile Park), and the Texas Rangers (Globe Life Field). Most of these teams have varying weather-related concerns for why they have retractable roofs. Miami and Seattle both have heavy rain concerns. Houston sits right on the Gulf of Mexico so humidity is a concern down there. Toronto and Milwaukee need roofs to accommodate for the colder months at the beginning of the year. The Texas Rangers new stadium has a roof with indoor air conditioning. The belief was that Globe Life Field in Arlington wouldn’t sell as many tickets because of the brutal heat in the summer. So, the new ballpark figures to see better attendance numbers. Lastly the Diamondbacks don’t suffer from the same concerns as the other teams, but intense heat in the summer is the reason for keeping the roof closed to keep the temperature comfortable inside for fans, similar to Texas.

For the most part, Chase Field and Minute Maid Park keep their roof closed. That’s not to say every game is played indoors. However, a majority of their games are played indoors and we should probably expect that for Globe Life Field. T-Mobile Park in Seattle closes the roof for a few games a year if it’s raining, but they keep the roof open if they can. Miller Park in Milwaukee and Rogers Centre in Toronto saw more balance between indoor and outdoor games. In general, there’s a slight bump in offense when roofs are open and open-air can carry the balls a little further. The open-air games typically come more during the summer, but again it’s a slight benefit to the offense, but not terribly drastic.

Now here comes the obligatory mention of the Tropicana Cave in St. Petersburg, Florida. Until a new stadium is built for the Rays (which is unlikely), they’ll continue to play every home game indoors at the Trop. The roof gets quite a few complaints for a couple reasons: 1. The ceiling is white, which causes a problem for players trying to track down fly balls, and 2. Those damn catwalks.

Here are the Catwalk rules per MLB.com:

• Batted ball strikes catwalk, light or suspended object over fair territory
• Batted ball that strikes either of the lower two catwalks (known as the 'C-Ring' and the 'D-Ring'), including any lights or suspended objects attached to either of those catwalks as well as any angled support rods that connect the 'C-Ring' to the masts that support the 'D-Ring' in fair territory: Home Run.
• Batted ball that strikes either of the upper catwalks (known as the 'A-Ring' and the 'B-Ring'), including the masts that support each of those catwalks as well as any angled support rods that connect the 'B-Ring' to the masts that support the 'C-Ring' in fair territory: In Play. If caught by fielder, batter is out and runners advance at own risk.
• Batted ball that is not judged a home run and remains on a catwalk, light or suspended object: Two Bases.
• Batted ball strikes catwalk, light or suspended object over foul territory: Dead Ball.

So, if you hit the two catwalks with a blue circle around them, the ball is in play and can be caught for an out. If you hit one of the catwalks with a red circle in the imagine above, it’s a home run. The distance from home plate to the foul poles is 315-feet to left field and 320-feet to right field, but the Cave features some deep power alleys, so you really need to muscle it if you aren’t hitting it right at the foul poles. Fortunately, Tropicana Field does feature some short fences in the outfield similar to Yankee Stadium, Great American Ballpark, Citizens Bank Park, Fenway Park, Coors Field, and U.S. Cellular Field.

After briefly touching on Marlins Park earlier in this section, the Marlins have one of the more pitcher-friendly environments in baseball. Miami plays almost all of their home games indoors due to the heat and humidity in the summer. Nobody wants to be outside at a baseball game in Miami in the summer. But in an effort to potentially increase offense in Miami, for the second time in four years, the Marlins are moving their fences in. It will now be 400-feet to straight away center field and right-center field will be 387-feet from home plate. It doesn’t sound like the fences will be any shorter especially considering they installed shorter fences not too long ago. While Miami will still have a bigger outfield, there could be an uptick in runs and home runs.

Get to Know Globe Life Field

2020 sees the opening of a new ballpark in Arlington. It’s the first new ballpark since 2017 when the Braves opened SunTrust Park (now to be called Truist Park as of 2020). It is a little surprising the Rangers opted to leave Globe Life Park in Arlington considering that stadium opened in 1994 and the Rangers only got 26 seasons out of it. Not to mention, the stadium underwent significant renovations in 2013. It will now be used as a soccer venue and will serve as the home of the XFL’s Dallas Renegades.

Here are how the dimensions compare to the previous ballpark:

Not too much difference but left-center field will be a little more shallow, while center field will be a little deeper and it doesn’t appear the new stadium will have that signature hill beyond center field for fans to chase home runs.

As mentioned above the new stadium will feature a retractable roof to accommodate the higher temperatures in the summer. Hopefully this will increase attendance as the Rangers ranked 18^th in MLB in attendance last season with an average attendance of 26,333 people. (Fun fact: the Marlins were the only team to not draw 1,000,000 attendees last year as they fell way short with 811,302 guests for an average just over 10,000 fans per game). Globe Life Field will feature two massive video boards in right-field and left-field foul territory. Sadly, the jet stream effect will not be accompanying the Rangers to the new ballpark. In addition to the roof, which will be closed for a healthy amount of games, the new stadium will be facing Northeast instead of Southeast like the last park. But if you’re a Rangers fan you have plenty of reasons to be excited for the new park. It looks beautiful, but it’ll be interesting to see how it plays with the closed roof.

Know Your Ballparks

You can get a really good feel for hitter’s and pitcher’s ballparks using the Fantasy Alarm Ballpark Ratings Feature. Do note, that it still lists the Rangers’ old park because our current ratings are based on the 2019 season. It’ll be kept up to date throughout the 2020 season. I truly believe FA has come a long way with this feature and you can compare how the Slugging Rating in Coors Field compares to Oracle Park. It’ll also list the starting pitchers, have a weather note, and list the home run totals throughout the season as opposed to a simple metric run/home run metric found elsewhere. This is a great tool that will be quite popular when it comes to DFS, but you can just as simply sort them by run and home run totals for your own fantasy baseball draft prep.