Context is Everything

As regular readers know, I've been complaining about Dodd Stadium and its effects on our hitters and pitchers there. I just ran across an article by an expert in sabermetrics, who has written a book, that addresses this issue in the early part of the article:

If there's a single thing to understand, it's probably this. Context takes many forms — the park a player toils in, his league, his era, his spot in the lineup, and the quality of his opposition, to name only a few.

Most fans grasp that Coors Field benefits hitters and that Petco Park benefits pitchers, but knowing that really isn't enough. Shea Stadium, for instance, is much, much tougher on right-handed power hitters (like David Wright) than on left-handed power hitters (like Carlos Delgado). So it's not sufficient to say a park merely helps or hurts the offense or the pitcher. We need to know who it's helping or hurting and to what extent.

...

As for the differences in league, they have serious bearing on the minor leagues. The High-A Pacific Coast League[SIC-should be AAA], for instance, is a great circuit for hitters, while the High-A Carolina League is fairly hostile toward the offense. So it's especially important not to take minor league numbers at face value. What kind of league did he play in? What kind of park did he play in? Was he older or younger than his peer group? These are all vital pieces of information for assessing a prospect.

As he notes, "it's not sufficient to say a park merely helps or hurts the offense or the pitcher. We need to know who it's helping or hurting and to waht extent," and he asks, "What kind of a park did he play in?"

As I've shown in the various posts that I have done, HR power is halved at Dodd relative to the rest of the Eastern League. It is also significantly reduced when compared to any other stadium in the EL. Thus it hurts all our power hitters on the team, and it greatly helps all the starting pitchers we have on the team, making them look better than they really are. Trying to hit for power at Dodd is a Sisyphusian endeavor, trying to hit a homer there but failing over and over again, I worry for the confidence of any power hitter forced to play in Norwich, as long as that park is unchanged.

And as far as I know, the latest news was that the planned re-sodding to improve the fairness of the field was scrapped because, for some reason, ESPN did not want the field changed for some sort of filming that they were planning on doing there. Whatever amount ESPN paid to rent the use of the field was not worth the damage it will inflict on our hitters there this season.