The LF wall tracker

[sportsfan8703]

Well we’ll see how it impacts FA SP wanting to come here in the future. Grow the bats, by the arms. 

[Can_of_corn]

5 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Well we’ll see how it impacts FA SP wanting to come here in the future. Grow the bats, by the arms. 

We won't see.

That is just something that is never going to be transparent to us as fans.

Edited May 24, 2022 by Can_of_corn

[sportsfan8703]

1 minute ago, Can_of_corn said:

We won't see.

That is just nothing something that is going to be transparent to us as fans.

I kind of like the grow the bats and buy the arms theory. We haven’t been able to develop pitching consistently for a scary long time. So just draft the hitters. Eventually Elias is going to have to make a “risky” decision on pitching. However, having a rotation with building blocks of GR and Hall works. 

I think honestly next year we could piece together a staff, Rays style, in the first half and then look to acquire a rental or two if we’re “in it”.

[Can_of_corn]

10 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

I kind of like the grow the bats and buy the arms theory. We haven’t been able to develop pitching consistently for a scary long time. So just draft the hitters. Eventually Elias is going to have to make a “risky” decision on pitching. However, having a rotation with building blocks of GR and Hall works. 

I think honestly next year we could piece together a staff, Rays style, in the first half and then look to acquire a rental or two if we’re “in it”.

I don't get the "we haven't been able to develop pitching..." argument.

Are the same people in charge?  How is it in any way relevant who the pitching coordinator was under Andy MacPhail?

Didn't Elias and Sig come into town with a reputation for a special sauce for pitchers?  Was that all just "High spin rate gud"?

If the BPA is a pitcher, take them.  If the best guy you can get back in a trade is a pitcher, get them.

Collect and develop talent.

The franchise developed Means, they developed Grayson and they developed Hall.

 

[Aristotelian]

On 5/23/2022 at 8:22 AM, DrungoHazewood said:

It was 296' to RF at old Yankee, and unlike Fenway's 296 the fence didn't immediately fall off to much deeper measurements.  It wasn't much over 300' 50' or 75' towards RC.

He had 46 homers at Cleveland's League Park, which was 290' to RF and 340' in the RC gap. Imagine OPACY with the RF/RC walls 30' closer.

He had 85 at the Polo Grounds and its 275' sign down the RF line.

And another 58 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis that was 310' to RF and just 354' to RC.

That's a total of 448 homers in parks that had at least one dimension in RF or RC that is shorter than any current MLB park except Fenway's Pesky Pole.

How the heck do you know all this stuff? 

[DrungoHazewood]

25 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

How the heck do you know all this stuff? 

Didn't get married until I was almost 33.  Played in the marching band in high school/college.  That's a lot of time other people devote to women that I spent repelling women and reading the Baseball Encyclopedia and the Historical Baseball Abstract.  I wouldn't recommend that course of action.  Stick with wooing women.

[drdelaware]

On 5/18/2022 at 12:23 PM, Can_of_corn said:

Players were not working offseason jobs in 1992.

True and the dimensions were way to short then as well.

[Frobby]

On 5/24/2022 at 9:38 AM, DrungoHazewood said:

Didn't get married until I was almost 33.  Played in the marching band in high school/college.  That's a lot of time other people devote to women that I spent repelling women and reading the Baseball Encyclopedia and the Historical Baseball Abstract.  I wouldn't recommend that course of action.  Stick with wooing women.

I didn’t know you could read the Baseball Encyclopedia while marching in the band.  Heck, I can’t even chew gum and walk at the same time!   I assume you met your wife by accidentally colliding with her while reading one of these books.

i have studied the Baseball Encyclopedia and read the Historical Baseball Abstract, but didn’t retain anywhere near the level of detail you have.  I’m very proud of my long term memory but you’ve got me drubbed in that regard.  
 

[deward]

7 hours ago, drdelaware said:

True and the dimensions were way to short then as well.

Didn't seem to prevent the team from winning games and having good pitching

[justD]

I thought this was an excellent article in Baseball Prospectus on impacts of the wall beyond home runs directly scored.  

Although I can't remember everything we've discussed in these many pages so far, I think it captures a lot of what we've been trying to figure out - or at least, gives us some new things to think about  

A couple snippets:

Quote

As mentioned above, I counted 18 flies that stayed in the park that would’ve been gone last season— eight for the Orioles, five for the Yankees, three for the Rays, and one each for the Red Sox and Twins. But not all phantom home runs are equal in value. 11 of them were caught by the left fielder for an out. Six of the others became doubles. However, two of those doubles resulted in outs on the basepaths.

Altogether, these non-homers account for a loss of 59 total bases. Including the two runners gunned down on the basepaths, they also created 13 more outs.

...

The wall is 30 ft. deeper, so the fielders line up 12 feet further back to compensate. There’s no platoon split here, either. Average left fielder starting depth is 311 feet for left-handed hitters and 310 feet for righty swingers.

This has an effect on more than just the balls that would’ve been homers. By my estimation, seven batted balls fell in for base hits that would’ve been caught in 2021 due to the positioning change. 

All told, the change in fielder depth yielded seven additional hits and eight total bases while taking away two hits and four total bases. It’s a net gain of five hits and four total bases, which offsets the lost home runs just a little.

...

Through 23 games, there have been 27 batted balls that achieved a different result in 2022 than they would have in 2021— 18 lost home runs, seven added hits, and two doubles taken away. Almost all of these 27 batted balls either took runs off or put runs on the scoreboard. 

...

These 27 batted balls accounted for eight actual runs scored, but they would’ve been worth 36 runs with the old dimensions. It’s a direct loss of 28 runs. However, every ball in play other than a solo home run changes the base/out state, which has an effect on the rest of the inning. 

That last paragraph is followed up by a summary chart of sorts (RE24 is described here.)

And he makes his final point: 

Quote

22.63 fewer runs in 23 games is not a small amount. That’s an average of 0.98 fewer runs per game—or 0.49 fewer per team. However, looking at this as an average doesn’t do it justice. There are plenty of games where there’s no difference at all. Then there are others in which one team might lose four runs off the scoreboard.

Camden Yards had always been a hitter-friendly ballpark. Now, the fans in attendance will witness 80 fewer runs over the course of 81 Orioles home games. Did the club’s brain trust go too far to flip the script?

There are a lot of video examples given inside the article that help flesh some of this out. I can come back later and add those for discussion if anyone is interested. (Sorta hoping that not including them here keeps me from breaking the unwritten rule about lifting an article in full!)

[Going Underground]

The Sun article also had some snippets.But behind the paywall.

 

[Going Underground]

22

Based on tracking from The Baltimore Sun and Statcast, the count of home runs to left field would be 22 higher if not for the new wall. The Orioles have lost 10 home runs, while visitors have lost 12. Four players have each suffered multiple would-be home runs

[DrungoHazewood]

5 hours ago, justD said:

Did the club’s brain trust go too far to flip the script?

Nope!  Exactly what the doctor ordered.  Would anyone think we're better off if Ryan Mountcastle had a few extra homers, but Jordan Lyles and Bruce Zimmerman were borderline unpitchable?

[justD]

4 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

Nope!  Exactly what the doctor ordered.  Would anyone think we're better off if Ryan Mountcastle had a few extra homers, but Jordan Lyles and Bruce Zimmerman were borderline unpitchable?

Well, to correct the quote, justD didn't say that, the guy who wrote the article did!

I like the wall.  I like seeing the added complexity to the game.  I love having our pitching staff helped out in any way possible. 

So yeah, that wasn't me you quoted.

[DrungoHazewood]

26 minutes ago, justD said:

Well, to correct the quote, justD didn't say that, the guy who wrote the article did!

I like the wall.  I like seeing the added complexity to the game.  I love having our pitching staff helped out in any way possible. 

So yeah, that wasn't me you quoted.

Yea, I know.  Just stating my opinion about the piece you posted.