Not all ballparks are created equal.
Such a premise will certainly have major implications when it comes to determining which players will shine offensively this season.
For example, in 2006, it was 68 percent easier to hit a home run in Arizona than it was in pitcher-friendly San Francisco. Two different players could have the exact same abilities, but they could hit a different number of home runs depending on which ballpark they call home for 81 games.
This makes a huge difference in fantasy baseball, as park factors are extremely important in projecting a player's statistics. A good hitter in a hitter's park could put up some astounding numbers, while an excellent hitter in a pitcher's park could have his numbers neutered. Understanding which parks benefit hitters and which parks benefit pitchers provides a decided competitive advantage in fantasy leagues.
Park factors can be easily accessed on ESPN's baseball statistics Web sites, and other Web sites such as The Hardball Times or Baseball Think Factory. Before the draft, it is important to be familiar with park factors - especially the extreme ones.
In 2006, the top five easiest ballparks to hit home runs in were, in order: Chase Field (Arizona Diamondbacks), US Cellular Field (Chicago White Sox), Great American Ballpark (Cincinnati Reds), Rogers Centre (Toronto Blue Jays) and Wrigley Field (Chicago Cubs).
On the flip side, the reigning pitchers' parks of 2006 were PNC Park (Pittsburgh Pirates), Comerica Park (Detroit Tigers), Angel Stadium (Anaheim Angels), Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox) and Petco Park (San Diego Padres).
Given Fenway's reputation for being a homer haven, it may come as a surprise that Fenway was one of the toughest parks to hit homers in during 2006, and was ranked as the 11th toughest park in 2005. Certainly, this does not bode well for Josh Beckett fixing his homerun problem. Keep this in mind on draft day, and think twice about J.D. Drew's homer potential.
In addition to park factors, there is a distinct difference between the American League and the National League. Over the last couple of years, the AL has been decidedly better than the NL. Thus, when a player switches leagues, he is also switching contexts. Both the hitters and pitchers in the NL are, on average, worse than their counterparts in the AL. Thus, if an AL player switches to the NL, his statistics are likely to improve, while an NL player will look worse if switching to the AL.
This difference is even more pronounced for pitchers, due to the fact that the AL uses the designated hitter, while pitchers hit in the NL. On AL teams, the DH tends to be one of the best hitters on the team. Imagine removing that hitter and replacing him with someone far worse than even the average hitter. NL pitchers certainly enjoy quite a luxury.
Additionally, because the style of play is different in the NL, it is more likely to have one or two weak hitters on an NL team - such as Brad Ausmus, Adam Everett and Ronny Cedeno - in addition to the pitcher.
As a result, a pitcher could see a rather dramatic change in his statistics without a change in his ability simply because the hitters he is facing from each league are significantly different. Such players as Barry Zito and Randy Johnson should see a marked improvement from their 2006 statistics by moving to the Senior Circuit. Andy Pettitte, meanwhile, may find it hard to duplicate his NL success with his return to the Yankees.
Understanding park and league factors is instrumental in having a productive draft. These factors do not change a player's ability or skills, but they do elucidate or obscure them. For fantasy purposes, it's not a player's true ability that is important, but rather the statistics he posts. Therefore, it makes sense to try to select more pitchers from the NL, due to their inherent advantage, and find hitters playing in a friendly home park, as they are more likely to perform better.
This does not eliminate excellent pitchers in small ballparks, or great hitters in huge ones, however. But there are undervalued players whose raw statistics are going to look better because of the park in which they play.
Park and league factors also create an appreciation for those who had truly outstanding seasons in 2006 with their ballpark working against them, such as Brandon Webb, Bronson Arroyo, Travis Hafner, Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Beltran.
Not all ballparks are created equal, but neither are all fantasy players. Understanding the difference in ballparks and leagues can provide an instant advantage.
