NEWSLETTER
It’s become commonplace to discuss and identify the varying offensive environments created by unique park and city characteristics among the Major League teams. Coors Field, where the Cubs just played their last series, for example, is a notably rich offensive environment. Park dimensions, foul territory, park shape, weather and altitude are just some of the things that can vary stadium to stadium and influence the average offensive production there across all teams.
Indeed, minor league parks share the same kind variance between stadiums – which can cause problems for us “prospectors.” Given that the majority of prospect evaluation for the layman (like me) comes from scouting stat lines, it’s especially important to keep park conditions and characteristics in mind.
Baseball America thought so too, and decided to collect all of the information in one place. Overall, it’s a very useful piece that I plan on revisiting throughout the year, so give it a read and acquaint yourself with the offensive environments of the various full-season minor league stadiums.
If you’re worried about not being familiar with the stats below, the article graphs each MLB Park (which we are inherently more familiar with) by total Runs and Home Runs per game to provide some context. Unsurprisingly, the Rockies’ Coors Field comes out with the most runs and home runs per game (11.65 and 2.58); while the Padres’ PetCo Park (6.21 and 1.25) is at the other end of the spectrum. Wrigley Field comes in at just under 8 runs per game and about 1.5 home runs, putting it around the middle of the pack.
For the purposes of looking at the Cubs’ affiliates’ minor league stadiums, we will use just one stat, Park Factor (PF) for runs. PF takes the ratio of runs scored and allowed at a given park and compares it against the same numbers on the road – creating an index where 100 is exactly average (same amount of runs scored on the road and at home), and any number above or below is the percentage difference compared to the rest of the league. The article also looks at the Park Factor for Home Runs and BABIP, so take a look if you’re interested. There’s even an percentile marker for all parks relative to all other parks in every league if you want a really deep dive.
For now, we’ll keep it simple.
Principal Park – AAA Iowa (Pacific Coast League)
Smokies Park – AA Tennessee (Southern League)
TicketReturn.com Field at Pelicans Ballpark – High-A Myrtle Beach (Carolina League)
Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium – Low-A South Bend (Midwest League)
Personally, I enjoy the uniqueness of each park (despite the different offensive conditions) and believe it is one of baseball’s many strengths (over other professional sports). That said, it’s important to keep the stadium and city conditions in the back of your mind when evaluating player performances from those locations, because the many differences can unfairly impact your impression of a player (for better or for worse).
