The ?other? MLB draft
It appears colorful Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen might not be the only source of wind in Major League Baseball.
According to reports in The Sporting News and on MLB.com, Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels is waiting for the results from a study into what he calls the ?perceived wind effect? at Ameriquest Field. ?I do think it?s real, but I?m not sure exactly how much of a factor it is,? Daniels says. ?I think good pitchers win anywhere.?
Good pitchers do indeed win anywhere ? because their opponents on any given day have to pitch in the same park in the same conditions. But there is no question it is more difficult to have a good pitching performance at Ameriquest Field than at most ballparks in the majors ? if you?re prone to giving up the long ball. This year?s park factors at Ameriquest show that 26 percent more home runs are being hit in Arlington than the MLB average. Only Camden Yards (45.2 percent) and Chase Field (36.4 percent) are more dinger-friendly.
Ameriquest Field has been known as a hitter?s park since it opened in 1994. There are many obvious reasons for this: tremendous Texas batting, woeful Texas pitching, and those inviting short porches in both left field (334 feet) and right field (325 feet). But what about good, old-fashioned wind power? There is certainly plenty of it to go around. There is a prevailing south-southeast breeze in Arlington, although four stories worth of offices beyond center field, with a 42-foot screen on top, help to restrict the wind?s effects on the ballpark.
The culprit in this story is the Gold Club. No, not the one in Atlanta ? the government shut that one down. We?re talking about the restaurant located behind home plate. The ?perceived wind effect? Daniels is talking about is a by-product of the Gold Club?s construction and opening in time for the 2001 campaign. The study in question seeks to determine whether the restaurant deflects the southerly winds coming in over the offices, creating a jet stream pointing out toward right field.
A quick and dirty study of left-handed Texas batters in 2000 and 2001 should reveal some noticeable differences if there is indeed a mighty wind blowing. Unfortunately for the Rangers, they only had one left-handed power hitter that season: Rafael Palmeiro. He hit 39 home runs for the Rangers in 2000, then 47 in 2001. But he also clubbed 47 tasty taters in 1999. The other everyday big bats in the 2001 Rangers lineup ? Alex Rodriguez and Ivan Rodriguez ? were both righties. Pudge?s power started its gradual decline in 2001, and A-Rod was in Seattle with the Mariners the previous season.
Daniels has every incentive to find out how Ameriquest Field is affecting his team. The Rangers finished 2001 at 73-89, the second of four straight seasons in the basement of the American League West Division. Daniels inherited this mess in October and immediately restocked the team with pitching (Kevin Millwood, Adam Eaton, Vicente Padilla and Akinori Otsuka) and hitting (Brad Wilkerson). The Rangers have returned to respectability at 40-36; however, if there is a jet stream going out to right field, Daniels got the wrong pitchers. All four are right-handed. At least Wilkerson is a lefty hitter, one of only two on the Rangers roster. Five more are switch-hitters (none of significance at the plate), while seven Texas hitters do their work exclusively from the right side.
Sharp handicappers are also interested in the results of the study. The over/under statistics coming out of Ameriquest are too inconsistent from season to season to show any viable trend; still, a visiting team coming into Arlington with a southpaw on the mound and a batting order loaded with lefties should have an advantage if the perceived wind effect is more reality than perception.
The Rangers will be back at Ameriquest on Friday to start a nine-game homestand that will carry the team through to the All-Star break. Their opponents will be the Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins. Houston is almost exclusively a right-handed hitting club. Toronto and Minnesota are not, and the Twins starting rotation boasts talented southpaws Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano. In three games at Ameriquest over the past three seasons (a small sample size, granted), Santana is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA. The rookie phenom Liriano has made just one appearance in Arlington, pitching three scoreless innings of relief back in May to earn his first career save.
---Perry
BetWWTS.com
It appears colorful Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen might not be the only source of wind in Major League Baseball.
According to reports in The Sporting News and on MLB.com, Texas Rangers general manager Jon Daniels is waiting for the results from a study into what he calls the ?perceived wind effect? at Ameriquest Field. ?I do think it?s real, but I?m not sure exactly how much of a factor it is,? Daniels says. ?I think good pitchers win anywhere.?
Good pitchers do indeed win anywhere ? because their opponents on any given day have to pitch in the same park in the same conditions. But there is no question it is more difficult to have a good pitching performance at Ameriquest Field than at most ballparks in the majors ? if you?re prone to giving up the long ball. This year?s park factors at Ameriquest show that 26 percent more home runs are being hit in Arlington than the MLB average. Only Camden Yards (45.2 percent) and Chase Field (36.4 percent) are more dinger-friendly.
Ameriquest Field has been known as a hitter?s park since it opened in 1994. There are many obvious reasons for this: tremendous Texas batting, woeful Texas pitching, and those inviting short porches in both left field (334 feet) and right field (325 feet). But what about good, old-fashioned wind power? There is certainly plenty of it to go around. There is a prevailing south-southeast breeze in Arlington, although four stories worth of offices beyond center field, with a 42-foot screen on top, help to restrict the wind?s effects on the ballpark.
The culprit in this story is the Gold Club. No, not the one in Atlanta ? the government shut that one down. We?re talking about the restaurant located behind home plate. The ?perceived wind effect? Daniels is talking about is a by-product of the Gold Club?s construction and opening in time for the 2001 campaign. The study in question seeks to determine whether the restaurant deflects the southerly winds coming in over the offices, creating a jet stream pointing out toward right field.
A quick and dirty study of left-handed Texas batters in 2000 and 2001 should reveal some noticeable differences if there is indeed a mighty wind blowing. Unfortunately for the Rangers, they only had one left-handed power hitter that season: Rafael Palmeiro. He hit 39 home runs for the Rangers in 2000, then 47 in 2001. But he also clubbed 47 tasty taters in 1999. The other everyday big bats in the 2001 Rangers lineup ? Alex Rodriguez and Ivan Rodriguez ? were both righties. Pudge?s power started its gradual decline in 2001, and A-Rod was in Seattle with the Mariners the previous season.
Daniels has every incentive to find out how Ameriquest Field is affecting his team. The Rangers finished 2001 at 73-89, the second of four straight seasons in the basement of the American League West Division. Daniels inherited this mess in October and immediately restocked the team with pitching (Kevin Millwood, Adam Eaton, Vicente Padilla and Akinori Otsuka) and hitting (Brad Wilkerson). The Rangers have returned to respectability at 40-36; however, if there is a jet stream going out to right field, Daniels got the wrong pitchers. All four are right-handed. At least Wilkerson is a lefty hitter, one of only two on the Rangers roster. Five more are switch-hitters (none of significance at the plate), while seven Texas hitters do their work exclusively from the right side.
Sharp handicappers are also interested in the results of the study. The over/under statistics coming out of Ameriquest are too inconsistent from season to season to show any viable trend; still, a visiting team coming into Arlington with a southpaw on the mound and a batting order loaded with lefties should have an advantage if the perceived wind effect is more reality than perception.
The Rangers will be back at Ameriquest on Friday to start a nine-game homestand that will carry the team through to the All-Star break. Their opponents will be the Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays and Minnesota Twins. Houston is almost exclusively a right-handed hitting club. Toronto and Minnesota are not, and the Twins starting rotation boasts talented southpaws Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano. In three games at Ameriquest over the past three seasons (a small sample size, granted), Santana is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA. The rookie phenom Liriano has made just one appearance in Arlington, pitching three scoreless innings of relief back in May to earn his first career save.
---Perry
BetWWTS.com
