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With all the talk of how Brandon Snyder was effected by Harbor Park in AAA (most recently in Steve Melewski's Blog), I decided to create a list of the years and players that hit 20+ home runs with Harbor Park as the home field.

Harbor Park was built in 1993 and has been home to the tides ever since. The dimensions are as follows:

Left Field - 333 Feet

Center Field - 410 Feet

Right Field - 318 Feet (Formerly 338 Feet before 2009 season)

The change in Right Field was a for a 400 person standing room deck that was added. The right field fence was moved in 20 feet to accomodate this change. It was believed this would help bring the home run back to the park.

For more information on the change click here.

The following is a list of players with 20+ home runs for the Tides since 1993:

2004:

- Craig Brazell (23)

- Victor Diaz (24)

2002:

- Rob Stratton (20)

- Andy Tracy (20)

1997:

- Scott Mclaine (21)

- Robert Petagine (31)

1995:

- Butch Huskey (28)

No Orioles Minor Leaguer has yet to reach the 20 home run plateau. I know the data is skewed because of players getting called up to the majors when they are doing well. Because of this, I took a look at the players who would have hit 20 home runs if they had played a full season. A minimum 150 PA was used. 142 G played is the pace.

2009: Nolan Reimold was on pace for 41 HR in his 130 PA but did not qualify

- Oscar Salazar: 2009 - 10, Pace - 28

2008: No Players on 20 HR pace

2007:

- Jon Knott: 2007 - 13, Pace - 21

Mets Farm System

2006:

- Robert Bozied: 2006 - 8, Pace - 26

2005:

- Brian Daubach: 2005 - 16, Pace - 22

- Victor Diaz: 2005 - 10, Pace - 33

- Mike DiFelice: 2005 - 14, Pace - 24

- Luis Garcia: 2005 - 9, Pace - 31

- Chase Lamibin: 2005 - 10, Pace - 23

2004: No Players on 20 HR Pace

2003:

- Marco Scutaro: 2003 - 9, Pace - 20

- Matt Watson: 2003 - 11, Pace - 21

2002:

- Mark Johnson: 2002 - 14, Pace - 25

- Jason Phillips: 2002 - 13, Pace - 20

2001:

- Mark Johnson: 2001 - 8, Pace - 27

- Ray Montgomery: 2001 - 7, Pace - 26

2000:

- Mark Johnson: 2000 - 17, Pace - 25

- Vance Wilson: 2000 - 16, Pace - 20

1999:

- Craig Paquette: 1999 - 15, Pace - 30

- Andy Tomberlin: 1999 - 16, Pace - 21

1996 - 1998: No Players on 20 HR Pace

1995:

- Derek Lee: 1995 - 18, Pace - 23

1994:

- Rico Brogna: 1994 - 12, Pace - 25

- Jeromy Burnitz: 1994 - 14, Pace - 23

1993:

- Ryan Thompson: 1993 - 12, Pace - 28

Item of note: Pace does not equal expected power production. With hot and cold streaks, match-ups, and various other factors, it would be impossible to gauge their real production. This is simply the product of this formula:

[(Home Runs Hit / Games Played) X (142 - Games Played)] + Home Runs Hit = Home Run Pace

In 17 Years of operation, 5 years did not have players on pace to hit 20 HR and only 4 years yielded players who did hit 20+ home runs.

With this data, please keep this in mind: the production on the field is a reflection of the amount of talent that team has. Norfolk this past year was devoid of any offense once Montanez, Wieters, Reimold, and Salazar were removed from the team. All of these players were favorites to chase the 20 HR mark this year, but they got time on a big league club to reward them for their efforts.

When the Mets system was playing in the park for 14 years, it only had 3 years (all in a row) where there was no 20 HR talent. Otherwise, there was generally 2 guys capable of putting up those kind of numbers on each team.

Everyone is aware that this is a big pitcher's park because of the wind coming off the water. Is it any surprise that the Orioles aren't afraid to to bring up prospects from AA? Why send them to Norfolk where they lose confidence (like Snyder) and derail their path?

Feel free to leave comments on the stadium and the information provided. I did the study based on my own curiosity and thought I would share it.

All data presented is from Baseball Reference.

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You could just consult MiL park factors.

Did Snyder lose confidence and get derailed?

If you read the article by Melewski, he said he changed his entire approach to try and slap the ball around instead of driving to the gaps because he was not getting early success. This caused him to be completely out of sync during his stay in AAA. Snyder is quoted throughout the article.

Park factors was not the type of data I wanted.

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Fact is if the park is making hitters, especially power hitters, change their swing to adjust to the park, it is hurting the development of the O's hitting prospects. The answer is to move the fences in for all fields. I have been saying this ever since the O's moved into Habor Park.

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If you read the article by Melewski, he said he changed his entire approach to try and slap the ball around instead of driving to the gaps because he was not getting early success. This caused him to be completely out of sync during his stay in AAA. Snyder is quoted throughout the article.

Park factors was not the type of data I wanted.

Yeah ... I just question whether this was wasted time. I think it was a good lesson for him to go through that. Players need to face adversity and adapt.

Park factors are going to be more useful because it provides context. The number of 20 homerun hitters does not mean much because what are you comparing it to? How do we know how many 20 homerun hitters there should be over a given time period?

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True power hitters still get their home runs. It is the gap power guys like a Markakis or Snyder that are hurt by the ballpark. Markakis never saw this stadium, so we can only guess how he would've done. Reimold had no problem because he was a pull hitting power hitter. If you keep it down the lines, you'll get your HR's.

It does show that the Orioles have not, in the past 3 years, had a power hitting prospect come through Norfolk (which we are well aware of).

Crawdad:

Like I said at the end, I did this for me and not the general public. If you don't care for the data then don't bother since it was fine enough for me.

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Fact is if the park is making hitters, especially power hitters, change their swing to adjust to the park, it is hurting the development of the O's hitting prospects. The answer is to move the fences in for all fields. I have been saying this ever since the O's moved into Habor Park.

I think it is premature to conclude that it is actually hurting their development.

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having lived in Norfolk the past 6 years and going to about 20+ games a year. I can tell the park has a negative effect on the hitters. The summer months are even worse. I think they do need to bring in the fences a little bit. I don't even get out of my seat anymore until the ball is out of the park now. So many "homeruns" are just long outs in that park.

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having lived in Norfolk the past 6 years and going to about 20+ games a year. I can tell the park has a negative effect on the hitters. The summer months are even worse. I think they do need to bring in the fences a little bit. I don't even get out of my seat anymore until the ball is out of the park now. So many "homeruns" are just long outs in that park.

Well, that is the issue. It certainly has a negative impact on offensive numbers, but does it have a negative impact on development.

I haven't seen anything to suggest the latter.

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True power hitters still get their home runs. It is the gap power guys like a Markakis or Snyder that are hurt by the ballpark. Markakis never saw this stadium, so we can only guess how he would've done. Reimold had no problem because he was a pull hitting power hitter. If you keep it down the lines, you'll get your HR's.

It does show that the Orioles have not, in the past 3 years, had a power hitting prospect come through Norfolk (which we are well aware of).

Crawdad:

Like I said at the end, I did this for me and not the general public. If you don't care for the data then don't bother since it was fine enough for me.

Taking it even further, its IMO not really the gap to gap power guys, its the guys who hit a lot of their HRs to center, right-center and rightfield. Snyder is a perfect example of this. Its not that Harbor Park as a whole kills the power, its kills the power to Snyder's opposite field(where he hits most HRs).

Perfect example is Reimold. I dont recall him hitting too many opposite field HRs in the ML, so assuming similarly in MiL, its no wonder he was on pace to hit voer 30 HRs in Norfolk, his best power is to the pull side and the Park has much less effect on his HR totals. Wieter's HR numbers would have been down over a full season, Nick's would have as well if he woulda played there. This is why I think he has mroe power than hes given credit for. Lately, except for his AAA stint, hes given every indication that he has 30 HR power. WHat if he truely does have 30 HR piower, and we dont know it because Harbor Park isnt allowing his power to come through. Ive been saying it a lot lately, but be prepared to be surprised by Brandon's power when he comes up to the ML.

And like Crawdad mentioned, word is that Brandon changed his entire approach because Harbor Park was hurting his offensive numbers and it threw his offensive game completely out of whack.....

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True power hitters still get their home runs. It is the gap power guys like a Markakis or Snyder that are hurt by the ballpark. Markakis never saw this stadium, so we can only guess how he would've done. Reimold had no problem because he was a pull hitting power hitter. If you keep it down the lines, you'll get your HR's.

It does show that the Orioles have not, in the past 3 years, had a power hitting prospect come through Norfolk (which we are well aware of).

Crawdad:

Like I said at the end, I did this for me and not the general public. If you don't care for the data then don't bother since it was fine enough for me.

Part of putting out data to try to explain or note something is that sometimes the data is critiqued as to how well it actually says what you are trying to make it say. Part of publishing that data in a forum is to have others look at it and think about it.

If you do not want people to comment on your personal studies then do not put it into a forum where people are responding to the content found in posts.

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Well, that is the issue. It certainly has a negative impact on offensive numbers, but does it have a negative impact on development.

I haven't seen anything to suggest the latter.

Sounds like it was messing with Snyder's head. Noone wants to hit .200 at Habor Park when the were hot at Bowie. Changing your swing to adapt to the park is a normal thing to try to do. It didn't help his development but he couldn't just keep hitting .200.

Habor Park is a problem for power hitter IMO and it does hurt their development. Move the fences it.

Snyder:

"Hitting to center and right center is my gap power and Norfolk's park killed me. I won't say I didn't struggle here and there but I went from Bowie to Norfolk and kept hitting line drives, kept hitting balls well that I thought would carry for at least doubles. Once the hits stopped, I tried to change.

"That was something I shouldn't have done. I should have kept the same approach, whether I hit a buck fifty or .250 or .300. I should not have changed what I was doing. It took me a few weeks before I came here to get that back. I was completely screwed up, thinking 'I need to slap the ball around the field' since I couldn't hit it out of there (Norfolk).

"It was a big learning lesson. I needed to stay with my game plan and hopefully it leads me to Baltimore someday."

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Sounds like it was messing with Snyder's head. Noone wants to hit .200 at Habor Park when the were hot at Bowie. Changing your swing to adapt to the park is a normal thing to try to do. It didn't help his development but he couldn't just keep hitting .200.

Habor Park is a problem for power hitter IMO and it does hurt their development. Move the fences it.

Snyder:

"Hitting to center and right center is my gap power and Norfolk's park killed me. I won't say I didn't struggle here and there but I went from Bowie to Norfolk and kept hitting line drives, kept hitting balls well that I thought would carry for at least doubles. Once the hits stopped, I tried to change.

"That was something I shouldn't have done. I should have kept the same approach, whether I hit a buck fifty or .250 or .300. I should not have changed what I was doing. It took me a few weeks before I came here to get that back. I was completely screwed up, thinking 'I need to slap the ball around the field' since I couldn't hit it out of there (Norfolk).

"It was a big learning lesson. I needed to stay with my game plan and hopefully it leads me to Baltimore someday."

It is also in your opinion that it hurts their development. I don't see the proof. It sounds to me like he learned a lot. I mean . . . we have a wide range of park effects in minor league stadiums.

Places where it is harder to hit a homerun . . . Augusta, Birmingham, Connecticut, Delmarva is not too far off, Hudson Valley, Inland Empire, Lake Elsinore, Lakewood, Mississippi, Modesto, Oneonta, Palm Beach, San Antonio, Savannah, TriCity NW, Vancouver, West Michigan, and Wilmington. Are all of these places screwing up prospects?

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Sounds like it was messing with Snyder's head. Noone wants to hit .200 at Habor Park when the were hot at Bowie. Changing your swing to adapt to the park is a normal thing to try to do. It didn't help his development but he couldn't just keep hitting .200.

Habor Park is a problem for power hitter IMO and it does hurt their development. Move the fences it.

Snyder:

"Hitting to center and right center is my gap power and Norfolk's park killed me. I won't say I didn't struggle here and there but I went from Bowie to Norfolk and kept hitting line drives, kept hitting balls well that I thought would carry for at least doubles. Once the hits stopped, I tried to change.

"That was something I shouldn't have done. I should have kept the same approach, whether I hit a buck fifty or .250 or .300. I should not have changed what I was doing. It took me a few weeks before I came here to get that back. I was completely screwed up, thinking 'I need to slap the ball around the field' since I couldn't hit it out of there (Norfolk).

"It was a big learning lesson. I needed to stay with my game plan and hopefully it leads me to Baltimore someday."[/QUOTE]

It is also in your opinion that it hurts their development. I don't see the proof. It sounds to me like he learned a lot. I mean . . . we have a wide range of park effects in minor league stadiums.

Places where it is harder to hit a homerun . . . Augusta, Birmingham, Connecticut, Delmarva is not too far off, Hudson Valley, Inland Empire, Lake Elsinore, Lakewood, Mississippi, Modesto, Oneonta, Palm Beach, San Antonio, Savannah, TriCity NW, Vancouver, West Michigan, and Wilmington. Are all of these places screwing up prospects?

Agree with crawdad going by what Snyder said. Snyder learned not to change his approach due to park factors and his "lack" of a decent BA. This is quite important lesson and helped his development.

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Sounds like it was messing with Snyder's head. Noone wants to hit .200 at Habor Park when the were hot at Bowie. Changing your swing to adapt to the park is a normal thing to try to do. It didn't help his development but he couldn't just keep hitting .200.

Habor Park is a problem for power hitter IMO and it does hurt their development. Move the fences it.

Snyder:

"Hitting to center and right center is my gap power and Norfolk's park killed me. I won't say I didn't struggle here and there but I went from Bowie to Norfolk and kept hitting line drives, kept hitting balls well that I thought would carry for at least doubles. Once the hits stopped, I tried to change.

"That was something I shouldn't have done. I should have kept the same approach, whether I hit a buck fifty or .250 or .300. I should not have changed what I was doing. It took me a few weeks before I came here to get that back. I was completely screwed up, thinking 'I need to slap the ball around the field' since I couldn't hit it out of there (Norfolk).

"It was a big learning lesson. I needed to stay with my game plan and hopefully it leads me to Baltimore someday."[/QUOTE]

Agree with crawdad going by what Snyder said. Snyder learned not to change his approach due to park factors and his "lack" of a decent BA. This is quite important lesson and helped his development.

A guy like Snyder takes the lesson, learns from it and improves. Hes the kinda guy who it affects positively in the long run. More mentally weaker players may not take failure so well, but players like that will fail inevitably anyway if they are that mentally weak. I never knew that Delmarva was a bad hitter's park though either...Thinking about it though, I cant remember the last 20 HR hitter we had at Marva.....Kolodny had like 13 a year ago if I remmeber right.

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