I’ve been thinking about park effects recently, and I’m constantly surprised at how many parks I misjudge. Take this table of the 2005-2007 averaged overall park factors:
Park 2005 2006 2007 TOT COL 1.29 1.15 1.17 1.20 CIN 1.13 1.15 1.09 1.13 ARI 1.08 1.14 1.11 1.11 PHI 1.16 1.06 1.04 1.09 CHC 1.02 1.08 1.17 1.09 BOS 1.03 1.03 1.19 1.08 CHW 1.04 1.05 1.09 1.06 KCR .97 1.15 1.04 1.05 TEX 1.08 1.08 .96 1.04 TOR 1.04 1.07 .98 1.03 NYY 1.05 .90 1.10 1.02 DET .96 .98 1.06 1.00 PIT 1.03 1.01 .95 1.00 MIL .99 1.00 .99 .99 LAD .90 1.05 1.03 .99 SFG .97 .99 .99 .99 ATL 1.10 .95 .90 .98 BAL .88 .99 1.08 .98 CLE .88 .95 1.11 .98 STL 1.03 .95 .93 .97 TBD .99 1.04 .88 .97 ANA .92 .91 1.08 .97 HOU .95 1.03 .92 .97 MIA .88 .90 1.08 .95 OAK 1.06 .92 .86 .95 MIN 1.02 .96 .85 .94 SEA .97 .88 .96 .94 NYM .96 .90 .89 .92 WAS .86 .94 .89 .90 SDP .80 .86 .78 .81
I had no idea Yankee Stadium and Comerica were favoring hitters. I had no idea Dodger Stadium was no longer a haven for pitchers. I had no idea Jacobs Field favored pitchers. And I’m absolutely shocked that Minute Maid park favors pitchers.
As for Houston’s home park, it definitely does inflates homeruns — by about 15% — but also deflates doubles and walks.
Here’s the same table sorted by variability — each park’s highest park factor minus its lowest park factor over the last three years. Some of the variability is due to physical changes in the stadium. But some is just of the statistical variety, one reason single-season park factors can cause more problems than they solve.
Park 2005 2006 2007 TOT HI-LO CLE .88 .95 1.11 .98 .23 OAK 1.06 .92 .86 .95 .21 BAL .88 .99 1.08 .98 .20 NYY 1.05 .90 1.10 1.02 .20 MIA .88 .90 1.08 .95 .20 ATL 1.10 .95 .90 .98 .20 KCR .97 1.15 1.04 1.05 .18 ANA .92 .91 1.08 .97 .17 MIN 1.02 .96 .85 .94 .17 BOS 1.03 1.03 1.19 1.08 .17 TBD .99 1.04 .88 .97 .16 CHC 1.02 1.08 1.17 1.09 .15 LAD .90 1.05 1.03 .99 .15 COL 1.29 1.15 1.17 1.20 .14 TEX 1.08 1.08 .96 1.04 .13 PHI 1.16 1.06 1.04 1.09 .12 HOU .95 1.03 .92 .97 .12 DET .96 .98 1.06 1.00 .10 STL 1.03 .95 .93 .97 .10 TOR 1.04 1.07 .98 1.03 .09 SEA .97 .88 .96 .94 .09 SDP .80 .86 .78 .81 .09 WAS .86 .94 .89 .90 .08 PIT 1.03 1.01 .95 1.00 .08 NYM .96 .90 .89 .92 .08 ARI 1.08 1.14 1.11 1.11 .06 CIN 1.13 1.15 1.09 1.13 .06 CHW 1.04 1.05 1.09 1.06 .05 SFG .97 .99 .99 .99 .02 MIL .99 1.00 .99 .99 .02
Popularity: 2% [?]
Share This
Sky is a baseball fan and racket sport afficianado living in upstate NY. His favorite color is orange and is just about ready to give up on his life-long dream to become the next Magnus ver Magnuson (World's Strongest Man). His favorite baseball teams are the Yankees and Red Sox, proving that there's hope in the Middle East.
October 3rd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
[…] #3 - We absolutely should penalize other hitters who play in hitters? parks (and reward hitters who play in pitchers? parks). However, it?s important to have an accurate concept of which parks actually are hitters? parks, and to what degree. Here?s a list of NL park factors averaged over the past three seasons. 100 is league average and a park factor of 110 means that 10% more runs are scored at that park. For AL park factors, click here. […]