Colorado a joke no longer?

[Gizzmonic]

I was listening to Baseball This Morning and they were talking about how Rockies pitchers have given up the fewest home runs this season, and that there are more shutouts at Coors Field than ever.

Is the humidor working?  And if Coors Field is no longer a freakish funhouse, does that mean the Rockies can be more than a circus sideshow?

Wouldn't it be weird if the Rockies took the NL this year?

[Nate in IA]

The Rockies are a fun, young team to watch.  Hurdle has them playing as a team and their pitchers are too young to realize that they can't pitch at Coors.  As I said before Jeff Francis is the real deal.  2 hitting the Cards at Coors has to be the outstanding pitching performance this year.   Jennings is right there too having a fantastic year.   They are definitely not the Blake Street Bombers anymore either but they know how the game is played.

I'm an Astros fan through and through but it's been more fun watching the Rockies this year.

[jasonact]

Guess which pitching staff has allowed the fewest runs in the NL and 3rd fewest in all of baseball this season:  the Rockies.

I don't think they'll win the NL this season (although it's not out of the question), but I'm glad to see that pitchers can actually do well in Colorado, at least for 4 months.

[Arky Vaughan]

Here the statistics compiled by the Rockies and their opponents at Coors and elsewhere this year:

Split       R/G   Avg   OBP   Slg   OPS   HR%
---------------------------------------------
Coors      4.71  .271  .342  .428  .770  2.73
Elsewhere  4.59  .266  .338  .419  .757  2.49
---------------------------------------------
Factor      103   102   101   102   102   110

The park factors for Coors this year are 11th in runs per game, 10th in batting average, 11th in OBP, 12th in slugging percentage, 11th in OPS and 11th in home runs per 100 at-bats among all MLB parks this season.

Given that Coors usually ranks far and way first in most if not all of these categories, the difference this year is phenomenal.

[jasonact]

Quote:
Here the statistics compiled by the Rockies and their opponents at Coors and elsewhere this year:

Split       R/G   Avg   OBP   Slg   OPS   HR%
---------------------------------------------
Coors      4.71  .271  .342  .428  .770  2.73
Elsewhere  4.59  .266  .338  .419  .757  2.49
---------------------------------------------
Factor      103   102   101   102   102   110

The park factors for Coors this year are 11th in runs per game, 10th in batting average, 11th in OBP, 12th in slugging percentage, 11th in OPS and 11th in home runs per 100 at-bats among all MLB parks this season.

Given that Coors usually ranks far and way first in most if not all of these categories, the difference this year is phenomenal.

Wow. That is incredible. Can the humidor accountfor all of that, or have they made other changes at Coors that has effected the play?

[David in Jackson]

This also reminds me of the fact that extreme hitters parks are not good for building winners.

I remember in 2000, the first year of Enron Field, being horrified that the Astros might be stuck in a Ballpark at Arlington/Coors Lite park.  This turned out not to be the case.  But I do remember some research showing that all things being equal it's better to play in a neutral or pitcher-friendly environment at home.  This, plus a balanced lousy division, is helping the Rockies this year.

[Arky Vaughan]

Quote:
This also reminds me of the fact that extreme hitters parks are not good for building winners.

I remember in 2000, the first year of Enron Field, being horrified that the Astros might be stuck in a Ballpark at Arlington/Coors Lite park.  This turned out not to be the case.  But I do remember some research showing that all things being equal it's better to play in a neutral or pitcher-friendly environment at home.  This, plus a balanced lousy division, is helping the Rockies this year.

So long ago:

The Link

[hostros7]

Somehow global warming must be at fault.

[Nate in IA]

Quote:

Quote:
Here the statistics compiled by the Rockies and their opponents at Coors and elsewhere this year:

Split       R/G   Avg   OBP   Slg   OPS   HR%
---------------------------------------------
Coors      4.71  .271  .342  .428  .770  2.73
Elsewhere  4.59  .266  .338  .419  .757  2.49
---------------------------------------------
Factor      103   102   101   102   102   110

The park factors for Coors this year are 11th in runs per game, 10th in batting average, 11th in OBP, 12th in slugging percentage, 11th in OPS and 11th in home runs per 100 at-bats among all MLB parks this season.

Given that Coors usually ranks far and way first in most if not all of these categories, the difference this year is phenomenal.

Wow. That is incredible. Can the humidor accountfor all of that, or have they made other changes at Coors that has effected the play?

I have a theory, and mind you that it is completely unsubstantiated, that MLB has finally figured out that you simply have to pitch differently up in the thin air.  There have been no physical changes to the ballpark, that's for sure.  Control pitchers have always done better up here and  I think you could probably get by with a plus fastball and plus changeup if you could pinpoint the location.  

That said, I imagine the humidor changes the mass of the baseballs ever so slightly and therefore gives the pitches that little bit of movement they didn't have before.  Add that to a bit of control and that's why I think you're seeing the huge difference this year.

[Arky Vaughan]

Quote:
I have a theory, and mind you that it is completely unsubstantiated, that MLB has finally figured out that you simply have to pitch differently up in the thin air.  There have been no physical changes to the ballpark, that's for sure.  Control pitchers have always done better up here and  I think you could probably get by with a plus fastball and plus changeup if you could pinpoint the location.  

That said, I imagine the humidor changes the mass of the baseballs ever so slightly and therefore gives the pitches that little bit of movement they didn't have before.  Add that to a bit of control and that's why I think you're seeing the huge difference this year.

Those numbers are not solely the doing of Rockies pitchers, however. They include how other pitchers at Coors Field have pitched as well. In other words, while an adjustment by the Rockies pitchers would make a difference, that would not explain the entirety of the data.

[Arky Vaughan]

The Rockies are batting .273/.340/.431 at home vs. .263/.332/.429 on the road. They're scoring 4.9 runs per game at home and 4.6 runs per game on the road.

Maybe the visiting pitchers have figured out Coors as well as the Rockies pitchers have, although it seems unlikely that the whole league would get it at the same time.

You have to understand the magnitude of this change. It would be like the entire league dropping 30 or 40 points of batting average at the same time. By way of comparison:

Rockies Slugging Percentage

Year  Home  Road
1993  .482  .362
1994  .479  .401
1995  .556  .384
1996  .579  .357
1997  .523  .432
1998  .519  .401
1999  .549  .390
2000  .538  .368
2001  .554  .410
2002  .496  .348
2003  .503  .388
2004  .506  .403
2005  .460  .359
2006  .431  .429

On average, over the past 13 seasons, the difference between home and road slugging for the Rockies was 134 points. This season, it's two points.

This season, the Rockies have their second-best road slugging percentage in club history. But their home slugging percentage is by far the worst in club history, by 29 points.

Maybe clubs have figured out Coors. Maybe it's a statistical anomaly. Maybe it's the humidor. Maybe's it's the weather.

I don't know what it is. But it's as significant a difference as between the deadball era and the lively era was for baseball as a whole. It's not some minor blip.