Park Effects

[Detroit Sun]

I'm still fairly new to OOTP. I'm doing a solo league and I'm playing in a huge park. I want to develop hitters that fit my stadium, but I'm not all that sure which way to go here. Here are the demensions:

DIS HT
Left Foul Line 338 10
Left Field 373 10
Left Center 417 10
Center Field 438 14
Right Center 412 10
Right Field 366 10
Right Foul Line 333 10

So, first I'm thinking....I need pull hitters who can yank the ball out, because there won't be many HRs hit otherwise. But then I thought, well, maybe a spray hitter would be better, because he'll poke the ball into the gaps and unless my opponent has some speedy fielders that can cover ground, I'll get a lot of doubles and triples.

Any thoughts?

[brewdog]

Wall heights and distances are only cosmetic. The Ballpark factors are what you should be looking at to judge your ballparks style. Although I know this isn't the answer you are looking for it should be helpful in determining your teams chemistry goal.

[BaseballMan]

Well first thing speaking on historical play, and if it is still the case is that ballparks are primary more cosmetic. In other words they will tell you how far a hr was hit but they dont effect how many hr a player hits as much as your league totals do. I think they may have a small effect but not enough to worry about trying to get slow moving long ball hitters because you play at Coors Field. I wonder though how much does a real baseball team try to fit their park?
Or does the park fit the player?

[Cryomaniac]

Originally Posted by brewdog

Wall heights and distances are only cosmetic. The Ballpark factors are what you should be looking at to judge your ballparks style. Although I know this isn't the answer you are looking for it should be helpful in determining your teams chemistry goal.

As far as I know wall heights affect the number of "stolen" homeruns by outfielders. Distances are purely cosmetic. Hopefully OOTP XI will have a "create park factors from dimensions" option.

[Detroit Sun]

Just for fun I went ahead and simmed ahead five years and calculated some park effects. This is what I came up with.


AVG Overall AVG LHB AVG RHB Doubles Triples HR Average

0.979 0.985 0.975 1.044 1.050 0.899


HR LHB HR RHB Overall * LHB Edge#

0.925 0.885 0.993 0.025


I think this looks like a park that favors gap hitters, but won't yield many HRs, especially to RHB. But my question is....am I better off developing some "pull hitters," maybe from the left side, or are "spray hitters" going to serve a better purpose by "spraying" the ball to the gaps?

[PhillieFever]

Well first off,in a park like that,I would solidify my pitching staff.Having better pitcher's while playing in a "pitcher's park" is a huge huge advantage,much bigger than any advantage a hitter could provide.As for hitters,I'm a big proponent of balance in a lineup,you need speed,power,and contact if you want to succeed long term.

[Charlie Hough]

Forget worrying about home runs and pull hitters. Build a team like the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals. Pitching, speed, fielding, and contact hitting. Work on manufacturing runs, stealing bases, and using your pitching and fielding to turn your ballpark into an advantage.

You should always focus on pitching first. Get the best starting rotation you can and worry about offense a bit later. I often spend the first couple of draft picks on getting great starters and then start alternating between field players and pitching, depending on the talent available and how the AI GMs are drafting. Hopefully you can get a respectable bullpen too. Just make sure that your pitchers have a high ground ball percentage. You can get away with a bit less talent overall if your pitchers can keep the ball down and you can play defense.

Get the best center fielder you can with huge range, great defense, and a great arm. Get a shortstop and second baseman who have the same qualities and can turn the double play. If you can, make sure these three players have good speed and can steal bases. If they can bunt for hit and/or sacrifice bunt, that's good too. But the most important thing is their defense and their ability to contribute at least halfway decent offense.

You still want to get a couple of players with power and gap hitting ability, but it's more important to make sure that your power hitters are balanced players. Make sure they can play defense and can actually run the bases. Don't waste time on slow power hitters with mediocre fielding. That will hurt you in that ballpark.

Overall, you want players who can make good contact and can avoid strikeouts, because you'll need to keep rallies alive and won't be able to rely on the home run.

It may sound like it's asking for a lot, but I've always been able to build teams like this through an inaugural draft, especially in historical leagues.

[findinghomer]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

Forget worrying about home runs and pull hitters. Build a team like the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals. Pitching, speed, fielding, and contact hitting. Work on manufacturing runs, stealing bases, and using your pitching and fielding to turn your ballpark into an advantage.

You should always focus on pitching first. Get the best starting rotation you can and worry about offense a bit later. I often spend the first couple of draft picks on getting great starters and then start alternating between field players and pitching, depending on the talent available and how the AI GMs are drafting. Hopefully you can get a respectable bullpen too. Just make sure that your pitchers have a high ground ball percentage. You can get away with a bit less talent overall if your pitchers can keep the ball down and you can play defense.

Get the best center fielder you can with huge range, great defense, and a great arm. Get a shortstop and second baseman who have the same qualities and can turn the double play. If you can, make sure these three players have good speed and can steal bases. If they can bunt for hit and/or sacrifice bunt, that's good too. But the most important thing is their defense and their ability to contribute at least halfway decent offense.

You still want to get a couple of players with power and gap hitting ability, but it's more important to make sure that your power hitters are balanced players. Make sure they can play defense and can actually run the bases. Don't waste time on slow power hitters with mediocre fielding. That will hurt you in that ballpark.

Overall, you want players who can make good contact and can avoid strikeouts, because you'll need to keep rallies alive and won't be able to rely on the home run.

It may sound like it's asking for a lot, but I've always been able to build teams like this through an inaugural draft, especially in historical leagues.

are you really charlie hough?

[Charlie Hough]

What else am I supposed to do in the off-season? We don't start minor league spring training until March.

[Detroit Sun]

Thanks guys. I definitely agree about having speedy OFs with good range. I think that will help whatever pitching I have, and I think the numbers my staff puts up will create some good trade fodder as well. I think I'm going to have a lot of low scoring games.

I've also noticed that it rains a heck of a lot at my stadium. I'd say 25% of the games I've played have rain delays and winds blowing in from center...usually at 10-15 mph. As if anyone was going to hit it over a 14 ft wall at 438 in center.

Does this weather have an affect on attendance?

[Charlie Hough]

Keep in mind that the wall heights are purely cosmetic in OOTP. They don't directly affect offensive output, although I believe they are part of the calculation that determines park factors.

I'm not sure if weather has much of an effect on attendance. I'd be more concerned about the winds blowing in from center. That should give you even more reason not to place much focus on power hitters. If the winds are blowing in for 25% of your games, then that will only add to the difficulty in hitting home runs.

[Malleus Dei]

I have had great success in OOTP over many years by following the priorities of the great Earl Weaver: pitching, defense, OBP, power, platooning, and positional flexibility. No sacrifice bunts or stolen bases or other Little Ball to speak of, instead three-run homers and Big Ball.

This may not be the only way to win at OOTP, but it's a way that has worked very consistently.

[Charlie Hough]

Originally Posted by Malleus Dei

I have had great success in OOTP over many years by following the priorities of the great Earl Weaver: pitching, defense, OBP, power, platooning, and positional flexibility. No sacrifice bunts or stolen bases or other Little Ball to speak of, instead three-run homers and Big Ball.

This may not be the only way to win at OOTP, but it's a way that has worked very consistently.

Fair enough, but how often have you done it in a park with pretty extreme factors working against batting average and power? Then add some bad weather tendencies and you've got what the OP will be dealing with.

Then again, I never load up on power hitters, so I haven't tried going with your style in a pitcher's park.

[Malleus Dei]

Originally Posted by Charlie Hough

Fair enough, but how often have you done it in a park with pretty extreme factors working against batting average and power? Then add some bad weather tendencies and you've got what the OP will be dealing with.

Then again, I never load up on power hitters, so I haven't tried going with your style in a pitcher's park.

How often? Every time. And I've been playing since OOTP 1.