Mariners to Get First Look at New 'Pitcher-Friendly' Version of Oriole Park
Oriole Park at Camden Yards has long been considered a hitter's paradise—a "glorified Little League stadium" where anything goes for visiting and habitant sluggers.
Every hitter that has strolled through Baltimore since 2002 has combined to hit 4,116 home runs with a .436 slugging percentage. Of the stadiums that have been active for the majority—if not all—of that timeframe, only Coors Field (.474), the Ballpark in Arlington (.449) and Fenway Park (.438) have seen higher slugging percentages, while none have posted a greater total of home runs.
This has been both a gift and a curse for the Orioles as a franchise.
On one hand, since the ballpark officially opened its doors in 1992, the Orioles have had at least one player hit 30 or more home runs and post a slugging percentage over .500 in 14 of 28 full seasons (excl. 1994, 2020). Additionally, for four consecutive seasons from 2013 to 2016, MLB's leader in home runs belonged to Baltimore.
On the other, from 2002 onward, no pitching staff in baseball has surrendered a higher number of dingers (3,987) at their home ballpark than the Orioles. In that same span, they've given up the fourth-highest batting average (.274) and second-highest slugging percentage (.438) in the league.
Times have changed, however.
This offseason, the Orioles organization decided to make some adjustments to the ballpark's dimensions. These alterations proved significant, resulting in the straightaway left field fences being moved back from 364 feet to 384 feet with a peak of 400 feet in left-center. Furthermore, the height of the walls were raised from 7-foot-4 to roughly 13 feet.
So far, nine home runs have been hit to left field in 23 games at Oriole Park this season. Only three of those went over the changed walls, however, whereas the other six landed at—or around—the left field foul pole area, which starts at 333 feet.
BATTER | PITCHER | DATE | DISTANCE | EXIT VELOCITY | LAUNCH ANGLE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ryan Mountcastle | Hansel Robles | April 29 | 423 | 111.2 | 33 |
Austin Hayes | Jhoan Durán | May 5 | 409 | 107.0 | 24 |
Randy Arozarena | Kyle Bradish | May 21 | 429 | 106.2 | 26 |
These changes have presented some jarring splits. In 2021, 123 home runs were hit to straightaway left field at Oriole Park. This year, the 81-game pace currently sits at 31.6.
According to Statcast's park factors leaderboard, Oriole Park has observed 14.6 percent more home runs than the league average since 1999. But in 2022, it has fallen to 28 percent under the league average threshold—the third-lowest mark in MLB right now.
Other factors are certainly at play here as well, such as the well-documented deadened ball issues in MLB, but the evidence is pretty cut and dry: moving the walls back has had a tremendous impact in the early going. There have been 14 balls hit out to the affected areas that would have registered as home runs a year ago, which would bring the aforementioned pace up from 31.6 to a more respectable 81.
BATTER | PITCHER | DATE | RESULT | DISTANCE | EXIT VELOCITY | LAUNCH ANGLE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Xander Bogaerts | Kyle Bradish | April 29 | Flyout | 369 | 106.4 | 39 |
Robinson Chirinos | Dylan Bundy | May 4 | Flyout | 367 | 94.3 | 35 |
Jorge Polanco | Cionel Pérez | May 4 | Flyout | 381 | 100.8 | 32 |
Robinson Chirinos | Jovani Morán | May 5 | Flyout | 374 | 92.1 | 28 |
Ryan Mountcastle | Zack Greinke | May 8 | Double | 404 | 104.6 | 23 |
Trey Mancini | Scott Barlow | May 8 | Flyout | 365 | 98.7 | 29 |
Giancarlo Stanton | Kyle Bradish | May 16 | Double | 385 | 114.2 | 16 |
Aaron Judge | Spenser Watkins | May 17 | Double | 397 | 100.8 | 30 |
Joey Gallo | Dillon Tate | May 17 | Flyout | 375 | 105.0 | 36 |
Jose Trevino | Félix Bautista | May 18 | Double | 372 | 103.1 | 20 |
Giancarlo Stanton | Bruce Zimmermann | May 19 | Single | 384 | 114.0 | 18 |
Tyler Nevin | Ryan Yarbrough | May 20 | Double | 380 | 104.3 | 26 |
Ryan McKenna | Dusten Knight | May 22 | Flyout | 375 | 103.7 | 38 |
Harold Ramírez | Joey Krehbiel | May 22 | Flyout | 360 | 93.0 | 32 |
The wall adjustments and the influence they have had are particularly relevant to the Mariners as they head to Baltimore for a three-game set with the Orioles on Tuesday. Injuries have cut down the right-handedness in Seattle's lineup to a degree, but the majority of its power output still comes from the right side of the plate with the 11th-highest pull rate in MLB (41.3 percent).
Interestingly, of the 52 home runs the Mariners have hit this season, 11 of them (21.1 percent) have gone to straightaway left field with enough distance to clear Oriole Park's new fences.
BATTER | PITCHER | DATE | DISTANCE | EXIT VELOCITY | LAUNCH ANGLE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mitch Haniger | Joe Ryan | April 8 | 411 | 107.8 | 27 |
Mitch Haniger | Bailey Ober | April 10 | 385 | 110.9 | 21 |
Ty France | Dallas Keuchel | April 13 | 388 | 98.8 | 31 |
Dylan Moore | Jesús Luzardo | April 30 | 385 | 103.2 | 35 |
Julio Rodríguez | Sandy Alcántara | May 1 | 450 | 110.4 | 25 |
Eugenio Suárez | Matt Wisler | May 6 | 387 | 104.7 | 27 |
Julio Rodríguez | Chasen Shreve | May 15 | 423 | 114.0 | 21 |
Cal Raleigh | Kevin Gausman | May 18 | 394 | 104.6 | 26 |
Dylan Moore | Rich Hill | May 19 | 403 | 107.4 | 24 |
Kyle Lewis | Justin Verlander | May 27 | 441 | 107.8 | 30 |
Kyle Lewis | José Urquidy | May 28 | 420 | 107.0 | 33 |
Of course, this is over a sample size double the amount of games the Orioles have played at home thus far, and one of the players on the above list—outfielder Mitch Haniger (ankle)—will not be with the Mariners in Baltimore. Nevertheless, the potential is there for Seattle's hitters to break relatively new ground over the next three days.
The changes should also benefit a Mariners pitching staff that ranks dead-last in home runs allowed (62) this season. George Kirby, Robbie Ray and Chris Flexen—the team's three projected starting pitchers in this series—have contributed to 35.4 percent (22 out of 62) of that total.
