IN THE BALLPARK

by Holly Horning

It’s nothing new for baseball teams to build new stadiums or tweak existing ones in order to accommodate the home team.

When the Tigers built Comerica, some of the outfield dimensions were made insanely deep in order to accommodate their pitching staff which was one of the worst in MLB.  Build it deeper and pitchers will give up fewer homeruns.

But then again, more outfield expanse means you need better and faster defensive outfielders.  That’s why Detroit eventually ended up bringing those walls in.

In Baltimore, the Orioles just announced that they will not only be moving their outfield fences back 30 feet, but they are also raising them.  It’s to help reduce the number of home runs that are being hit there, combined with their rebuilding efforts and inexperienced pitchers.

And some are now arguing that by moving outfield fences back (and even raising the wall height), baseball could be saved.

With fewer home runs thus being attempted, the game could become more exciting.

Baseball has been reduced to strikeouts, home runs and walks.  (Known at the “three true outcomes.”)  It used to be that they filled 2 out of every 9 innings.  Now it’s up to 3.5 innings out of 9.

And it makes for a very boring game.

What do these three have in common?

Besides the all-or-nothing approach, it’s failure to put the ball in play.  And a result, less action on the field.  Less running.  Less catching.  Less…. well, you get it.

But what if certain ballparks also pushed their walls back?  What are the advantages?

• Fewer attempts at home runs.  More attempts to simply connect to the ball.

• More hits that would get past the outfielders and roll longer.

• Outfielders would play deeper and more balls would fall in front of them.

• Playing deeper in the outfield would result in larger gaps that would create more extra base hits, “gappers” and more diving catches.

• Playing deeper would result in more players being thrown out trying to stretch out a hit.

• Home run hitters with less plate discipline would become less valuable as they would hit more fly outs or doubles.

• Outfielders would become more valuable.

• Foot speed would become more valuable.

• Triples would become more frequent.

• Pitchers would become more fearless with the reduction in home runs.

• Batters would be better at plate discipline because they would see more pitches and wait for the right one.

• Pitch counts would increase while strikeouts and walks would lessen.

• Contact hitting would increase.

But the best benefit of all?

• The shift would become dangerous and used much less. 

Gaps in the bigger ballparks would increase the risk that hits would create more extra-bases.  As a result, defense would be pulled back to more of a traditional placement.

Sounds good, right?

The Tigers have hinted that there will be changes to Comerica starting with the 2022 season. Many have speculated that it will involve changing the dimensions of the park.

Will they be moving a wall or two further in – or out? There are arguments for both.

For the record, the distance from home plate to both the left field and right field corners are average lengths in MLB.  Even the distance to dead center field is not the longest in baseball.  There are a couple other parks that are bigger.

The Tigers don’t have their power hitters anymore so it makes sense that they pull their walls in to increase production.

However, this would put increased pressure on their young starting pitchers.

And if the walls are pulled in, it doesn’t seem likely that the team will return to the days of the mighty HR hitter who is a below-average runner. 

It doesn’t seem like A. J. Hinch’s style. He often talks about developing athletic players who are defensively flexible.

But what about the height of the walls?  Could the Tigers do that?

Guess we’ll have to wait and see.

But if anyone has a pair of binoculars or a drone, you know what you need to do…….

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