X

Have feedback / suggestions? Let us know!

MLB New York Mets

New Citi Field Dimensions Could be Huge Boost for New York Mets

By @mturnerny

Sandy Alderson Citi Field Dimensions

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Despite only being open for six seasons of baseball, Citi Field has undergone its second transformation along the outfield wall. Apparently the hitters of the New York Mets have a terrible time hitting in their own home park, and so they will continue tinkering with the depth of the wall until they find what works.

In 2011 they adjusted their cavernous right field to make it more “homer-friendly.” They brought in their 415-foot fence in right-center to a slightly more modest 390 feet, while nearly entirely eliminating the area in right field formerly known as the “Mo-Zone.” Many people pointed out the fact that David Wright was such a successful hitter at Shea Stadium because of his ability to go the other way. In Citi Field, many of his hits in that direction became flyouts.

Maybe that messed with his psyche. Maybe it didn’t. We’ll probably never know for sure. What fans do know is that the realignment they did in 2011 still wasn’t cutting it. So this offseason, they’ve changed it again, bringing right-center in another 10 feet and right field from 375 to 370.

According to GM Sandy Alderson, the new dimensions would have given the Mets 17 additional home runs in 2014 while giving opponents only 10 more. Still, the Mets were out-homered 71-59. The additional seven home runs the Mets would have hit over their opponents isn’t enough to close the gap, so clearly it’s not the wall’s fault they weren’t hitting home runs.

However, that isn’t to say the new wall won’t have a positive effect on the players. Wright was suffering from a bad shoulder all season, which affected his performance. Give him a full, healthy season with the new wall in right, and he may start getting back to his old ways.

And then there’s power hitters Lucas Duda and Curtis Granderson. Duda seemed to be the only Met not fazed by the Great Wall of Flushing, but I remember seeing numerous Granderson fly balls fall to the warning track. Granderson isn’t a true power hitter and more of a product of hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium, but he still can do better than the 20 home runs he hit in 2014.

If Wright, Duda and Granderson can all improve upon their offensive numbers in 2014, which shouldn’t be too difficult, that alone should be enough to bring the Mets above a .500 record.

One of the main arguments against the new wall is that the Mets are built around pitching. With a shallower wall, they will be hurting themselves. Alderson was quick to mention that might not be the case. Only two pitchers, Bartolo Colon and Raphael Montero, would have surrendered as many as two more home runs. No other pitcher on their staff would have surrendered more than one.

That’s not completely terrible. Colon and Montero also have the possibility of playing for another team in 2015, so they’re among the least to worry about.

There’s also the fact that the teams in this year’s World Series, the San Francisco Giants and Kansas City Royals, both play in large stadiums. Again, Alderson negated that point by saying they were only Wild Card teams and overall, having a smaller field was more beneficial.

Alderson’s minor points aside, I do feel the new wall will help the Mets. The new Citi Field walls are now more similar to Shea Stadium than the cavernous stadium that opened in 2009. The Mets’ pitching will be a strength regardless of their stadium size; maybe not as big of a strength if they didn’t change the dimensions, but a strength nonetheless. Add in the fact that this could give a huge boost to the hitters’ confidence, and this could be a very good thing.

Don’t forget that fans love the long ball. If they Mets can hit a few more home runs this year, that will get the fans more excited to go to the games. If you’re a Mets fan, you know how difficult it’s been to get excited about this team. Perhaps the Mets are onto something by again changing the dimensions of Citi Field.

Matt Turner is a New York Mets writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @MturnerNY, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on LinkedIn and Google.

Share Tweet
Trending Now on