Wright Unhappy With Citi Field?
By Mike Silva ~ June 8th, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva.
A Chipper Jones quote from his appearance on Ripken Baseball on XM.
“I juiced the ball just right of center field as hard as the good Lord can let me hit a ball, and it hit midways up the center-field wall for a double,” he said. “And every time there was a long fly out or a double that hit off the wall or something, David Wright would run by me and go, ‘Nice park.’
“He’s a little frustrated with it, but on the flip side of that, you got a guy like Jose Reyes Jose Reyes who’s liable to hit, in a healthy year, 25, 30 triples in that ballpark because if you split a gap you can run forever.”
First, Ripken Baseball on XM is well worth listening to. The guests are former players and they have in depth baseball discussion. It’s not the top line silly questions you get on mainstream radio. I also think the players are a little more open talking to one of their own.
The main point of this post is David Wright and his unhappiness with the park. I see no reason why Chipper would be lying, unless he is trying to cause trouble. I could accept that idea but it’s not like David has hit a ton of homers on the road (he has just one).
There hasn’t been much said about Citi Field in the media. I believe we will hear more stories about the cavernous ballpark as the season progresses. We may hear has many about it as we did about Yankee Stadium being too homer friendly. If the Mets, and Wright, struggle this year you can bet something will be done to address it. You also have to be concerned that it will become a deterrent to future free agent hitters.
I believe the park is ok, but the Mets should consider lowering the high left field padding so you can still get a homer on a line drive. That would be a nice compromise.
