Defining a Coors Field product

 

“He’s just a Coors Field product!” All Rockies fans have heard it, but what does it mean?

You can insert virtually any name into the beginning of that sentence. Arenado, Helton, Blackmon, Walker, Story, Dahl…. I digress. 

Is being a Coors Field product something that is backed up by the numbers? Or is there a stigma that follows Rockies hitters around like a mosquito in the heat of summer?

The guy hurt most by his label as a Coors Field product is Larry Walker. The Rockies’ lone league MVP is fighting an uphill battle to Cooperstown. The biggest argument against him is his tenure playing at Coors Field. 

Only ten right fielders in MLB history have a higher WAR than Larry Walker, according to Baseball-Reference, and all are in the Hall of Fame. Here’s the kicker: WAR takes ballpark factors into account and yet his career WAR was 72.7, to be exact. To go along with his MVP, Walker also racked up seven Gold Gloves, three batting titles, three Silver Sluggers, and five All-Star appearances. 

Walker’s 1997 MVP season is the greatest in Rockies history, and his pre-humidor splits explain why:

Home: .384/.460/.709, 1.169 OPS, 20 HR, 68 RBI

Away: .346/.443/.733, 1.176 OPS, 29 HR, 62 RBI

First of all, wow! Walker’s Cooperstown rap sheet is long and makes him more than qualified. Yet, there seems to be one thing that vetoes his efforts every year: Coors Field. Walker’s final year of eligibility on the Baseball Writer’s Association of America (BBWAA) ballot is up in January. Whether he makes it or not, the same battle exists for Todd Helton. With nine more years to discuss his candidacy, we’ll leave that for another day.

Speaking of players with Hall of Fame credentials, let’s look at two potential candidates: Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich and Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Yelich launched himself into MLB superstardom after a strong MVP campaign in 2018 and this year is not looking any different. These are his current 2019 splits: 

Home: .366/.459/.831, 1.289 OPS, 25 HR, 53 RBI

Away: .305/.405/.572,    .977 OPS, 11 HR, 27 RBI

As for the five-time Silver Slugger, these are Arenado’s splits from 2019:

Home: .357/.414/.597, 1.011 OPS, 10 HR, 46 RBI

Away: .256/.326/.474,   .800 OPS, 12 HR, 36 RBI

Yelich and Arenado are two of the premier players in the league right now. Both have a noticeable drop-off in virtually all of the hitting categories when on the road. Despite this, it is hard to go through any broadcast or publication outside of Denver without Coors Field being mentioned within the same sentence of Arenado’s name. Nolan produces greatness at any ballpark. Don’t just take it from me, this is what Charlie Blackmon had to say when he was mic’d up at the 2018 All-Star Game:

“You would like to see guys just say, ‘Wow. He’s just a great hitter,’ and not have to be discounted for the park that he plays in.  There’s a lot of guys who play in offensive parks and a lot of guys who play in defensive parks and they can still be a good player.  You drop Nolan Arenado in any park in the league and he’s an unbelievable player.”

Since Arenado has hit more homers on the road than he has at home this year, shouldn’t that quiet the argument that the environment at Coors Field has driven his offensive production?

That is the sole purpose of the humidor, which was installed at Coors Field after the 2002 season: mitigate the number of home runs hit at the park. According to Fangraphs’ home run park factors, it worked. Well, kind of.

The park factor statistic tries to contextualize how much offense a park allows compared to other parks. Like most advanced baseball metrics, 100 is the baseline. Say that a team has a 105 park factor, their home ballpark allows 10% more offense than the “average” MLB ballpark. It is halved so that 110 becomes 105 since only 81 games are played at home. 

The pre-humidor Rockies, the days of the Blake Street Bombers and a young Todd Helton, averaged a 125 home run park factor from 1995-2002. The post humidor Rockies have not had a home run park factor higher than 116 (2012) and had averaged 111.4, overall. The Rockies’ highest home run park factor was 127 in 1997. The only other team to surpass that was Atlanta at Fulton County Stadium with home run park factors of 131, the highest ever, in 1979 and 130 in 1980. Fondly referred to as “The Launching Pad” due to the predominance of home runs there.

So, yes, the humidor did work. It decreased the number of home runs hit at Coors Field. However, since its installation, the Rockies have either led the league or been runner up in home run park factor, including 2007 (7th), 2006 (4th), and 2005 (3rd). 

There is one location that currently leads the league in home run park factor and has led since 2015. Home of the Rockies fellow pinstripe-wearing sluggers, Yankee Stadium. With the likes of Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez playing 81 regular season games there a season, is anyone really surprised?

What really should not come as a shock is that a ballpark with a distance of 314ft to right field and 318ft to left has averaged the highest home run ballpark factor since 2015.

Judge had a historic year in 2017 hitting 52 home runs to help him run away with the Rookie of the Year award, Silver Slugger, and a second-place finish in AL MVP voting. Here were his splits:

Home: .312/.440/.725, 1.165 OPS, 33 HR, 68 RBI

Away: .256/.404/.548, .939 OPS, 19 HR, 46 RBI

Charlie Blackmon, on the other hand, also had a career-best season in 2017, won the Silver Slugger and finished fifth in NL MVP voting. His splits from that season are as such:

Home: .391/.466/.773, 1.239 OPS, 24 HR, 60 RBI

Away: .276/.337/.447,   .784 OPS, 13 HR. 44 RBI

Both Judge and Blackmon experienced offensive drop-offs in the same offensive categories. So, what’s the point?

There simply is no difference for some players: home-field advantages exist. The real difference is that Charlie Blackmon’s career year was downplayed because of the home ballpark that he plays in, but Judge’s was not.

The Coors Field product stigma hit Blackmon hard that year. It is most obvious when you take third place MVP finisher Paul Goldschmidt into account. Blackmon had an equal WAR, tallied more runs scored, more hits, one more home run, a higher batting average, slugging percentage, and OPS. Here are Goldschmidt’s splits for comparison:

Home: .321/.443/.639, 1.082 OPS, 20 HR, 61 RBI

Away: .275/.363/.489,    .852 OPS, 16 HR, 59 RBI

You could say that Chuck faced the “Naztyness” of the Coors Field product label. 

Are there more home runs hit at Coors Field? Yes, the stats show that. Are there a lot of home runs hit at other parks? Also yes! Especially with the current home run surge that has been plaguing the league, no one and no ballpark is safe.

If it’s becoming less about the home runs, then what is the biggest issue at 20th and Blake?

Coors Field has the second-largest outfield in the major leagues, 97,300 square feet or 2.23 acres, to be exact. That is a lot of ground to cover for any outfielder. The triples park factor at Coors Field has been out of this world since its induction in 1995. Its peak was 135 from 2016-2018 and the lowest it has ever gotten was 117 in 2006. Even when triples were rarest at Coors Field it was still 34-percent higher than the league average. The Rockies have led the league in triples park factor since 2010.

When it comes to doubles, the Rockies have come in second in doubles park factor since 2008, averaging 109.5 in that span. The Red Sox, who topped the Rockies over that span, have averaged 114.

Just due to the sheer dimensions of the Coors Field outfield, batting averages and OPS percentages will be boosted for those that play half of their games there. Yes, there is a Coors Field effect. However, it is important to remember that Coors Field is not the only park where home runs and extra-base hits are put into play at a higher rate. It takes skill to put the barrel of a bat on a baseball, no matter where you hit.

On the other hand, there is something that is rarely talked about when it comes to Rockies hitters: the “Coors Field hangover”.

After playing a homestand in a park where breaking balls cut less and balls have more room to land for base hits, the Rockies have to move out. Three of the Rockies four NL West opponents are located at sea level in parks where the ball cuts far more out of the pitcher’s hand: Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. Rockies hitters have to adjust to this very quickly. Changing how a batter sees the ball and timing his swing is never easy and can take a toll on a player’s away splits.  

One thing that park factor does not take into account is the type of pitching that a team has acquired. Teams like the Yankees, who play in a hitter-friendly park have the money and ability to go out and buy elite pitching and mitigate the damage that is done. The Rockies do not have that privilege. That’s not to say that the inflation is due to the ability of Colorado’s pitchers in their park, but it is a factor that can not be ignored.  

What happens when a player sheds the purple and black?

DJ LeMahieu has the potential to become the first hitter in major league history to win a batting title in both the AL and NL. Currently, he’s hitting .332 with the Yankees. He hit .348 to win his first batting title with the Rockies in 2016. To the media, that NL title had a little asterisk right next to it that read, “Aided by Coors Field.”

LeMahieu’s historic year was minimized by members of the press due to his residency at Coors Field. The guy was not even an All-Star that year and only snuck in as a reserve the following season. Now, as a Bronx Bomber, LeMahieu was the leading vote-getter at second base for the All-Star Game, is being touted as a possible AL MVP, and has found himself on the front page of the New York Times. 

What changed? For those who follow the Rockies, nothing, we knew what LeMahieu was: a star. But, in terms of national attention, all that needed to change for LeMahieu was his home ballpark. 

Coming down to the brass tax of this, a “Coors Field product” is just a ballplayer. It does not matter the name of the player, but if you play half of your games at Coors, your name becomes associated with it. Your numbers will be slightly inflated, admittedly some of that will be at the hands of Coors Field, but it will be forgotten that other players also enjoy a home-field advantage elsewhere. Your greatness will be downplayed.

Maybe that’s okay. Because those of us that watch guys like Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon, and Trevor Story play every day know what greatness looks like. And greatness is created at 5,280.

There is just more for us to share and enjoy.