Graph: Citi Field vs. Yankee Stadium
By Mike Silva ~ March 8th, 2010. Filed under: Mike Silva.
Everyone thinks Citi Field is where home runs go to die? I argued this point a couple of months ago. Check out this graph courtesy of MLB Gameday BIP Location. Basically it takes all the homeruns at Citi Field and superimposes it over Yankee Stadium. I added fly balls to see how many outs would have been homers across the river. Think the Mets were a victim of their ballpark? I had added this link for fans to play with under the “resources” portion of the website. (Note: Blue Dots are homers, Brown Fly Outs)
Citi Field Homers at Yankee Stadium
Doesn’t look like many balls would have gone out of Yankee Stadium that died at Citi Field. Take the opposite point of view and look at Yankee Stadium homers and flyballs at Citi Field.
Yankee Stadium Homers at Citi Field
Again, doesn’t appear to be a wide discrepancy of balls, with the expection of right field where you don’t get the “cheapies” like the Stadium. Now I realize this is very unscientific. One of the biggest fallacies of the study is I can’t determine if doubles hit the wall and went over, etc. Bottom line: it’s far too early to determine the effect of both new ballparks. Many who normally preach sample size are ready to write off Citi Field as the baseball version of Yellowstone Park. Remember, the Mets fielded a lineup that would not have won the International League. Players who can’t hit homers wouldn’t hit it at Shea, Polo Grounds or Citi Field. Anyone that projects to know what will happen also probably has a bridge to sell you as well.
March 8th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
These graphs are thoroughly confusing…do the blue dots mean home runs? And how can you tell which would be homers in the opposite ballpark?
March 8th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
The problem with NYS wasn’t the dimensions, but the fact that there was a jetstream going out to right. Why do you think there are so many blue dots in the lower graph, dummy?
March 8th, 2010 at 10:09 pm
Stu, sorry for the confusion.
The first graph is Citi Field homers at Yankee Stadium. This is for both Mets and opponent. The second is Yankee Stadium homers at Citi Field. You can see how the Yanks get some cheapies in RF.
As for the jetstream thing, who knows! I did say this was unscientific. This was also not a knock on Citi or Yankee Stadium. I think we need time to evaluate the ballparks.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
The bottom graphic looks like there are a lot (20 or more) of shots that cleared right field in YS but either hit the Citi Field wall or were outs. That number is significant. Also, besides the distance, the supposed “wind tunnel” effect in YS is also not taken into account (i.e., the Mets may have hit many more home runs just playing in YS regardless of fence). Agree that the Mets did not threaten the HR mark on the road, but I still bet the high, far wall at home changed enough swings to alter their performance on the road.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Btw – Yes Blue Dots are homers and the Brown are Fly Outs
March 8th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
What rocks do guys like “Silva’s an Idiot” crawl out from under? And can their retarded, offensive comments be deleted?
March 8th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Stu Thanks for the kind words, I edited his offensive remarks (got through spam), but kept the comment. I try to maintain free speech and criticism is ok, foul language not.
For fun, go to that website and put in David Wright and see his balls at Citi Field – absolutely none were pulled (2b, 3b, HR, FO etc.) throughout the year. This graph shows how screwed up D. Wright was.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:53 pm
Anybody who tries to argue that Yankee stadium isn’t a ridiculous hitter’s ballpark to right field is wasting my time and is delusional. Also, something else not being taken into account is the height of Citifield’s walls. In left field thats the major problem, not the dimensions.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:21 am
Brad:
The height of the walls is a very good point and there is no way for this type of graph to factor that in since this is where the ball landed.