Will new Marlins Park prove paradise for hitters or pitchers in Spring Training? - MLB Feature
Many theories are unfolding as to how ballparks will play out for pitchers and hitters. Debate has taken a new turn especially after first game at Marlins Park on March 5, 2012 between Christopher Columbus High School and Belen Jesuit Preparatory School.
First game was followed by two more exhibition games first between Miami Marlins and Miami Hurricanes and second between Marlins and FIU Golden Panthers.
Most Marlins’ players disregarding long left field of Marlins Park had hit a number of homers while taking full advantage of the retractable open roof.
Marlins Park is one of six Major League Baseball ballparks that have retractable roof, a facility adding a lot of fun to the game. As soon as the roof is closed, hits rarely come and when opened, hits are seen all across the park. Exactly same was evident
on pregame practice when hitters thrashed almost all pitches they faced repeatedly.
When compared to Sun Life Stadium, home to Miami Dolphins National Football League team, Marlins Park has a fairly large left and centre-left field. Total left field constitutes 344 feet and left-centre field covers 384 feet while these are just 330 and
361 feet respectively in Sun Life Stadium. However, right field of Marlins Park is smaller at 335 feet relative to 345 of Sun Life Stadium.
Large area signals a boon for pitchers as they can easily survive even after being hit hard. They can easily adjust their throws in a way that they keep them toward the left in order to receive maximum dead rubber hits.
Potential worry for hitters can be sighted from views of Andre Dawson, a Hall of Famer, who believes, a massive game winning homer hit by Alex Gonzalez in the fourth game of the 2003 World Series would just be a double in Marlins Park.
“That’s a double here, off the wall,” Dawson said. “You’re not going to get any cheapies down the line” in left.”
While looking at the way Mike Stanton and Emilio Bonifacio have fared so far in Marlins Park, one gets the impression of the stadium being a pitcher’s graveyard. When Stanton on batting practice sent ball out of park one after another and Bonifacio striking
a homer against FIU in Marlins 5-1 win, everybody stood impressed and fascinated. A Park touted as least supportive for hitters, lent a serious dent to its reputation at the very beginning of the season.
“Ain’t no park gonna hold Stanton. When he gets into it, it’s going to go out anywhere.” said Dawson.
On seeing Bonifacio bashing the ball far-off, Marlins’ manager Ozzie Guillen cannot stop himself from throwing a joke.
“I told Boni, Major League Baseball is checking for [performance-enhancing drugs],” exclaimed Ozzie Guillen.
Later it was found that due to opening of the roof, the ball was accelerating extra and hitters got undue advantage from it. Although home-runs came off even after roof was closed, certainly their frequency reduced. High scoring games played on the park
so far should not mislead other teams into believing that their hitters will also have the same breeze.
However, it can easily be the case of pitchers not reading the new conditions of Marlins Park and the hitters are getting an undue advantage. Only time will tell as the season progresses if Marlins Park is a hitters or pitchers stadium.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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