FanPost

More stuff about park factors

I am again seeking input and addtional info on park factors.  I have found some interesting things, but I'm hoping that some of you know of additional sites gathering park factor info. 

Background:  I traded emails with JMBarten last month about a post he made.  After I pointed him towards Baseball Reference's neutral showing for RBIA he did some checking around and said:

You know, I hadn’t really noticed the greatly decreased park effects of recent vintage. I talked to a couple of people and they say that it is for real and the cause is that the organization built a new club section of some sort and it changed the wind patterns. It’s interesting. It was pretty consistently a very good hitter’s park for its entire history until a couple years ago. I’m surprised it hasn’t recieved more press.

I'm skeptical it's that simple, and not all data shows RBIA as neutral.

Baseball Reference's park factor, which shows the Rangers as about neutral the last 3 seasons running:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TEX/attend.shtml

The BR page also shows RBIA as neutral its first year, then trending upward from 1995-2003, then trending back down and flat lining neutral since then.

ESPN's page show RBIA as a hitter's park except for 2007, when it ranked 18th:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor

This article from THT features a spreadsheet link at the bottom of the article, that is much more detailed in calculating park effects for all kinds of different events. 
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/batted-balls-and-park-effects/

The spreadsheet data, compiled from 2003-2007, shows significant factors for:
home runs, 1.10, which ranks 9th
triples, 1.60, tied for 1st (Giants)
doubles -- but ground ball doubles, not gappers -- 1.15, tied for 3rd

Things that stick out to me:

  • Why the huge discrepancy between BR and ESPN?  I am both unqualified and too lazy to analyze the formulas they use.  
  • Many measures on the THT spreadsheet are neutral or below average.  Would it be more accurate to say that RBIA is an extra base park?  Not sure that's a meaningful distinction from hitter's park for most writers, but it could be an aid to understanding what types of pitchersfielders are best.  I am sure the Rangers have proprietary info for this. 
  • Players to favor would be ground ball types and excellent defenders in the OF.  Well, duh, right?

I've done some searching but haven't found other sites with park effect listings.  Anyone aware of more to bolster the data?