Safeco’s Fences
Mike Salk is the co-host of the Brock and Salk show, which can be heard weekdays at 9 am on ESPN 710. I also write for their blog every Thursday, and my latest post can be found there now.
A few weeks ago, I walked into the visitor’s dugout at Safeco Field and bumped into a player I had covered when I was reporting on the Red Sox. He asked me how I liked Seattle and then started talking about how great the city is and how much he liked the park.
“This place is great,” he told me. “But they need to move the fences in.”
He went on to tell me about an at bat he had had at Safeco where he hit “right on the screws.” Of course, he pulled it to left field and the ball ended up just making the warning track.
“I crushed that ball,” he said as he shook his head. “Unbelievable.”
That’s a quick anecdote to reinforce what you already know: Safeco is huge. And its dimensions, specifically the deep fence in left field (331 feet down the line and 388 feet to the left-center alley) can change the game. I’m sure you’ve seen tons of hard data on how hard it is to generate offense in Safeco, specifically for a right-handed pull hitter. Clearly, the players all know that Safeco is a little different from other parks.
But do they change their behavior because of it?
I asked a bunch of players that question, talking to both Mariners and their opponents and both hitters and pitchers. The overwhelming answer: “Absolutely not!”
“I never change my swing for the ballpark,” explained Michael Saunders. “I try to never even think about it. You can get in trouble that way. In fact, the last thing you want to do is think at all at the plate. I just try to hit it where the pitcher dictates. And the bottom line is that if you hit the ball well, it will travel no matter where you are.”
The thought process makes sense. Baseball players are creatures of habit and that manifests itself in the form of disciplined routines. Hitters try to approach each at bat the same way. While they do make adjustments (in fact, they do that all the time), the goal is to be consistent. That consistency keeps them from overreacting to a short slump or overadjusting from one at bat to the next.
Remember, while pitchers have all the time they need on the mound to focus on making small changes, batters have just a split-second to make a decision and swing the bat. They don’t have time to consider whether left field is a little deeper than usual.
Once a half-dozen Mariners had told me that they never consider Safeco’s dimensions when they hit, I moved on to the other clubhouse. Finally, I found a former Mariner who disagreed.
“Yeah, I changed my swing a little there,” said Mike Cameron who hit 30 of his 269 career home runs at Safeco, more than at any other park. “Guys change their swings every day. Whether it’s adjustments or for the park…it’s like golf. You’re always tinkering.
“Sometimes at Safeco, you’d find yourself in trouble trying to muscle up a ball on a 3-1 or 2-0 count. You can’t do that there. Sure, the ball will carry if you hit it square, but you have to be careful. But my power swing is naturally to center field, so that helped me stay behind the ball there.”
In other words, he changed his swing but not the way you might think. He didn’t necessarily try to hit to right field, but he did try to stay within himself when he hit there.
That philosophy echoes much of what I heard from pitchers (and catchers). It’s not that they try to keep the ball in on righties or away against lefties to encourage them to hit to left field, it’s that they know they can be aggressive and make mistakes when they’re in Seattle.
“Safeco doesn’t usually effect my location in that I’m not trying to get fly balls to left field,” explained Jason Vargas. “But it does allow me to go after some hitters in tight situations. I can be more aggressive. You don’t have to nibble as much, even against some of the better hitters.”
The strategy seems to be working for Vargas. His ERA at home this year (2.48) is almost exactly half of what it is on the road (4.95).
“Safeco is a little different,” Vargas continued. “You pay some attention to the parks in that you know not to leave the ball up to lefties at Yankee Stadium. And you don’t want to let it go to left at Fenway. But mostly you just throw your pitch.”
Former Mariner and current Angels starter Joel Piniero agrees.
“Yeah, you can be a little more aggressive there and get away with a few mistakes,” he told me. “But the real key is always keeping the ball down. Doesn’t really matter where you are.”
So, who does care?
It’s not the hitters, who seem to be concerned first with their own mechanics and approach and then with reacting to the pitch they are given.
It’s not the pitchers, who might be slightly more aggressive at Safeco, but never consider trying to get hitters to put balls in play to the spacious left field.
It’s not the catchers either. Adam Moore says he never thinks about the dimensions of the park and that he “feels strong enough with this staff to just stay with their strengths no mater what park we’re in.”
But that doesn’t mean the park factor is ignored.
“It’s a consideration for every move we make at the major league level,” according to Assistant General Manager Jeff Kingston. “Any time we acquire a player, it’s got to be a factor because they are going to play 81 games here. We want this to be a home field advantage. The more we can acquire players that fit this ballpark, the better we are going to be.”
That means allowing for flyball pitchers (especially lefties) who might have more value in Safeco than elsewhere. That means right handed hitters who can go the other way. That means left handed sluggers. And it means finding outfielders who can cover ground.
“It’s a great park to be a centerfielder because of all the space and the openness,” said Cameron who patrolled it very well. “But you better be a good one and you better have some speed.”
Obviously, the current management saw the advantages of such a player.
When I started researching this post, I wondered if players considered the dimensions of the park when they hit or pitch. But after hearing from so many players that they never consider it, I’m now wondering if they should. Baseball players love routine and they tend to prefer their world to be as simple as possible. They try to focus on nothing more than the task at hand. What would happen if they tried to use the park to their advantage? Many believe it would distract them into failure. And they might be right. But they may also be missing an opportunity to increase their numbers.
(I wrote this post after Dave suggested the topic. The goal of this content-swap has been for me to offer a clubhouse insider’s perspective to this blog. If you have any pressing questions/topics, please leave them as comments and I’ll try to get some answers in my next post.)
Very cool post.
For a follow up article you should ask the managers what they think about park dimensions before setting a daily lineup.
I don’t think it is just the distance to the left center fence, although that is a big part of it.
It is also the wind, which almost always blows from left to right. Which is why I think Safeco plays as a more neutral park when the roof is closed (cuts down on the wind). If I was motivated, I’d check and see if that perception is backed up by numbers.
Paul B, it is — I don’t have the numbers, but I’ve seen them posted (iirc, in a thread on LL a while back . . . I want to say Graham was playing around with this a bit).
Thanks Mike. Its been great having your guest posts to take advantage of your connections.
I never understand the “more room to cover while playing centerfield at Safeco” comments. Aren’t almost all professional parks (including minor lg parks) about 400 to center and 380 in the alleys? Doesn’t that make the territory covered by the CF’er the same at every park? I understand that RF and LF will have varying areas to cover because of the larger differences in dimensions from park to park. But centerfield? Really?
I’d love to read a post about how much tinkering pitchers do with new pitches. I live in Philly and the media made a big deal of Cole Hamels working on a curveball and cut fastball. Some pitchers (Lincecum) seem to pick up pitches quickly, while others have repertoires that scream for another pitch. I’d be curious to learn if pitchers are always trying to learn new pitches (and it’s simply hard to learn a pitch well enough to throw to a major league hitter), or if pitchers usually think their arsenal is just fine, thank you.
It seems reasonable to conclude that if the corner outfielders have more territory to cover, then they’re going to position themselves further from center, which would expand the center fielder’s area commensurately.
Great article Mike! Very interesting!
I think Piniero is exactly right. Good pitching is good pitching.
Regarding the player(s) who think the fences are too far out – it works both ways. If we’d brought the fences in to help Beltre (when he was here), for example, we’d also be giving the exact same advantage to every other similar right-hander we face. That’s obvious, I realize – but some players don’t seem to get that somehow (A-Rod back when he was here, for one).
Okay, that makes some sense. Thanks.
The story I heard (can’t remember the source, and can’t vouch for the veracity) was that when they designed the stadium the considered the wind and thought it was okay because weather records said at that location the wind blows from the north (in) about half the time and from the south (out) about half the time, so it would be neutral.
Unfortunately the half the time the wind blows from the north is called Summer and the half the time it blows from the south is called Winter…
It’s probably one of those stories that’s not true but should be.
On the other hand, I think it’s more useful to think about HOW MUCH to bring in the fences. Sure it’ll help opposing players, too, but it’s important to consider the magnitude of the change, and how that plays with the rest of the league. I would question the value of a park that’s too distorted.
The natural summer late afternoon and evening sea breeze is a north to northwesterly wind. This is from wind rose data for SeaTac airport.
There are several features of the park that amplify the effects of that wind. First is the influence of buildings. Below 100 feet the neighboring buildings channel the wind and increase the velocity.
Near Safeco the likely effect of buildings is to channel that wind down Occidental Avenue toward the stadium. Then once that wind reaches Royal Brougham, there is a low spot and open area near Lookout Landing that provides a natural path for air to enter the stadium. So the air flow coming down Royal Brougham gets channeled into the stadium pretty much down the left field foul line.
Then, the wind that doesn’t come in through the gap at Lookout Landing will try to come over the left field bleachers. Since in the evening the stadium is a heat island, the air coming in over the left field bleachers is colder air and will tend to sink. So in addition the “Lookout Landing” jet stream, you have a more general flow of sinking air coming in from left field.
Put the two factors, and add in that the deepest part of the park is the left-center power alley, and you have a mix that kills fly balls hit to right, particularly balls that have any amount of loft.
*****
With the roof closed, the stadium becomes more like just a tall building, and the winds will most tend to rise and go over the top of the stadium. The result is that with the roof closed, the stadium plays more neutrally as the effects of the wind from left field are greatly reduced.
Is there a perspective missing? What about the player who is deciding where to play? Or their agent?
After checking out the title of this piece and reading through the first couple of paragraphs (right before the Mike Cameron interview) I was pretty sure I was going to be reading a post where you were advocating to move in the fences at Safeco – at which point I was prepared to go on a long rant discussing a multitude of topics including what that would mean for our pitching staff, current hitters (who don’t have enough power to hit the ball out of most parks), roster construction, etc.
But then you brought in the Mike Cameron interview and a few others and did a 90 degree veer to the left on me and completely obliterated that line of thought by covering everything I could have said on the topic.
Thanks for the extremely well thought out article – this was a thoroughly enjoyable read.
If Steve Nelson is correct, perhaps planting some trees along Royal Brougham to the north of the stadium would help break up the wind coming down Occidental. Some kind of banner or similar windbreak could be devised to test out the theory.
It would be cool to do some wind tests inside Safeco to see what’s really going on in there. It just seems like there’s an invisible force field stopping balls from going out to left sometimes.
Yes, all of that is what I’ve heard, too. There’s a couple of other factors as well that make Safeco Field repress home runs to such a degree: our location at sea level, and our relatively mild temperatures in the summer. Both of these increase drag on balls in flight and reduce their distance. This, coupled with the larger dimensions and the common wind patterns on the field make it one of the most difficult parks in which to hit one out to left and left-field.
Regarding the player(s) who think the fences are too far out – it works both ways. If we’d brought the fences in … we’d also be giving the exact same advantage to every other similar right-hander we face.
And what about the pitchers? The fences are O.K. with them. I’m sure they’re comforted knowing that a well-hit ball hit to LF probably won’t leave the park, but will probably be just another F-7.
Does anyone have square footage of the fair territory in each baseball stadium? We all know Safeco Field and Coors Field have a larger playing field than Camden Yards, but how much bigger are these two fields compared to Camden Yards. Is it closer to 1% or 10%, or higher?
Personally, and this is just supposition, the big factor that seems to turn left field fly balls into dying quails is the breeze that comes over the top of the left field bleachers.
If I’m positing correctly, that effect is difficult to negate with an open roof. You’ve got a wind coming from the north, with air that is colder than the air inside the stadium. The warmed air being created inside the stadium naturally rises, and must be replaced by cooler air. And the source of that cooler air is that northerly sea breeze.
That situation produces a current that comes over the top of the bleachers. If the bleachers were a sharp wall, the breeze would set up a backwash rolling circulation zone on the leeward side of the wall. But it’s not a sharp wall’ the bleachers descend at about 25 to 30 degree from horizontal, which suppresses the rolling action. Instead after passing over the top of the bleachers, the air descends toward left field, paralleling the line of the bleachers.
The result is breeze that enters the playing area blowing toward the first base line on a descending plane. When balls hit to left field encounter they first get held up, then begin to drop quickly as the forward momentum stalls and the air and gravity push the ball downward.
Again this is all supposition, and is largely constructed by working backward from effect to cause. But it does seem consistent with what we do know and can reasonably infer about site conditions.
Nice post. Thanks! I imagine the ballplayers must enjoy these conversations a lot more than their typical conversations with the media.
Thanks for the post, Salk.
The players’ reactions didn’t surprise me, but I wonder if subconsciously they are more aware of the fences and act accordingly, without conscious awareness of this. Given statements like the one that lead off the post, I’d say that is likely.
I, too, would have been interested in the players’ reactions to whether the park is a consideration in deciding whether to come here, though I’d be surprised if anybody would go on record (other than anonymously) on that subject.
Can’t verify that with any personal knowledge of fluid dynamics or climatology, but I’ve heard the exact same thing many times over the years.
As far as Saunders is concerned he doesn’t change his swing at Safeco because he doesn’t have to. He’s a pull hitting left handed hitter. Ask Jose Lopez. Ask Gutierrez. They’re the ones whose careers have suffered by playing at Safeco.
I realize I’m late with this, but for the folks who are interested in the wind effects and Safeco’s park factors, I highly recommend Graham’s Visual HR Factors – Safeco Field article at LL from January. And not just the article, but the comments: Steve Nelson shows up with a lot of fascinating data and analysis that greatly expands on his comment above, and there are some interesting contributions and links about the design and testing of the roof and plus some great trivia about some other parks with dimensions (real or effective) that make Safeco seem sane in every direction.