Greetings,

I co-coach a team in Capra (Burlington, my only hbd team) and we're ten games from the end of our third season. This is the first year we've had what we thought was a competitive team. The results have been disappointing. We are considering moving to a different park next season, and would like to hear some thoughts about whether this is a good idea.

Now, I understand that moving parks isn't going to automatically solve all of our problems, but here are some stats that have led us to believe that we might do better in a less pitcher-friendly park:

HOME RECORD: 34-41
AWAY RECORD: 41-36

PITCHING AT HOME:

3.20 ERA
1.18 WHIP
.230 OAV

PITCHING ON THE ROAD:

3.44 ERA
1.25 WHIP
.236 OAV

HITTING AT HOME:

.232 AVG
.300 OBP
.346 SLG
.646 OPS

HITTING ON THE ROAD:

.265 AVG
.327 OBP
.420 SLG
.747 OPS

In short, it would appear that playing in Burlington hurts our offense significantly more than it helps our pitching. Thoughts?

Thanks

You're definitely losing out on some of those 80+ power guys, but a lot of your hitters have lousy hitting splits.   I'd try to get a neutral site to help out

Here's a copy of a post I made in the SLB forum a while back....


 I would look at how many HRs, 3Bs, 2Bs, 1Bs, and BBs you intend to have and compare that relative to the league average and also compare each category relative to the other categories on your team.

When comparing to league average, I'd want to be in the top 20% or bottom 20% of any one category before considering at +1/-1 factor. I'd want to be in the top 10% or bottom 10% before going extreme +2,+3,+4/-2,-3,-4.

HOWEVER, you have to also consider each category relative to the other ones on your team. Just because you have a lot HRs (top 20% in league) doesn't necessarily mean you have a HR team. If you're also top 20% in the other categories, you actually have a neutral team thats offense heavy (hope that makes sense). So in that case a neutral stadium (neutral meaning no one factor is too far from the others. whatifsports park and coors for instance are both neutral stadiums are far as hit types go) would be more appropriate than say AFC, where a less offense heavy, yet more HR oriented team would have the advantage. Also it very important to look at how your hit:walk ratio compares to the league. 3:1 is pretty colse to historical average. If you are significantly above that (top 20%) or significantly below that (bottom 20%) you want to adjust your singles factor up or down. If you are close to it, you want a 0 singles factor.

So for example if your team is balanced in hit types and has a 3.8:1    hit:walk ratio, Coors would be a good choice. If your team is balance in hit types and has a 2.3:1   hit:walk ratio, Safeco is a good choice. If you have a 3:1  hit:walk ratio WISPark would be a good choice. And thats independent of whether or not you have an offensive heavy team.

The old adage of the opponent is playing in the same place as you applies.....so they enjoy an offensive park and also have to play in the cavernous field of Burlington too.  That being said, I have had success in pitchers parks by going away from power in my hitters and concentrating on contact and batting eye.  Drawing a walk is the same whichever field you play on.  Whether or not you single is also (contact and less K's).  Doing this while also looking for switch hitters where you can can help an offense in a pitchers park.

The good news is, Power sells for more value in HBD than either batting eye or contact.  So you can keep your pitching beefed up to take advantage of your park.....while trading away your power guys and get more in return in the batting eye and contact attributes.  So by staying in Burlington you should be able to make astute trades and make your team more effective then it is now.