Ballpark HR Ratings Should Be For LF/RF, Not L/R Hitters

It doesn't make any sense that Ballpark HRs are rated for L/R Hitters. They should be rated for LF/RF hit ball locations. Fenway Park's Green Monster is basically just as close for a lefty hitter as a righty, and a lefty hitter who lofts a ball in its direction should have as good a chance of hitting it onto Lansdowne Street as a righty. Some lefty hitters like the Dodgers' Wally Moon had an inside-out swing, and he could take advantage of the L.A. Coliseum's "Chinese" LF home run barrier, (1-18 HR, currently just for righty hitters). Similarly, righty swinger Bill Skowron was notorious for opposite field HRs over Yankee Stadium's short RF wall.

While you're at it, rate bpHR and bpSI for CF, too. Thank you.

If you made some percentage of ballpark homerun chances go to the opposite field, the homerun chances for each ballpark would simply be adjusted to achieve the same chance for a homerun for each hitter.

If the game were physics based and not results based, then your suggestion would have merit.

No. I will attempt to illustrate what I mean: I'm Ryan Howard 2006, a lefty hitter in the ATG9 set, and I'm facing a lefty pitcher in a game at Fenway Park '46. The dice result is 2-7, a bpHR split chance to LF. Because I'm a lefty swinger, my chances of clearing the LF wall are only 1-8. Were I a right-handed hitter, my chances are 1-17. Why should it make a difference what hand batter I am when I have walloped a possible HR to LF?

Here is hopefully a link to Howard's card: https://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/53 ... 292/454795.

I was going to ask "why would Howard be trying to clear the left-field wall in your example?" However, I now see your confusion. The fly(lf)B chance doesn't mean anything in terms of which fence he's trying to clear. SOM has to put a position there for stat purposes; however, it doesn't mean it's a long fly ball hit towards left field. It can be assumed many or most of the homeruns hit off of your 2-7 ballpark chance roll would be to right field. SOM simply put fly(lf)B instead of fly(rf)B for flavor or variety.

Furthermore, if you look at a ballpark homerun chart that comes with the game, you would see that it would read Homerun 1-8, Flyball (rf) B 9-20 for left-handed hitters. The result after the # on the card is ignored when super-advanced rules are used, so all left-handed hitter missed homeruns will be fly outs to right field in all stadiums.

Here's another way to look at it: Ballpark ratings are based on how many homeruns left-handed and right-handed batters hit in each park, not based on dimensions of the ballpark. So, in effect, the ballpark ratings already take into account that Ryan can clear the left-field fence more easily, but he's more likely to hit it to right field.

I give in that you're correct that these are the things that SOM has done. I persist that my suggestion would make the game much more realistic and fun.

I chose Ryan Howard deliberately for my example, as historically he went to the opposite field with approximately 40% of his home runs (http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/20 ... ome_ru.php). I don't think there is any doubt that SOM knows this, and that it is precisely why they marked that 2-7 roll as going to LF. If you look at other ATG9 hitter cards, very, very few other bpHR chances indicate the "out" chances as going to the hitter's opposite field.

So, I'm not really "confused." I just want the game to improve.

I hear you southpawcom. Another game I play uses deep drive location to tie in ballpark effects for homers, not handedness of the hitter. Hitters are given a power rating (A-F) and classified by handedness and also attributed as either "pull" or "spray" hitters, and those attributes taken together determine location and potential distance of the drive. Then park dimensions, weather and a how well the ball carries in that park all come into play to determine the outcome.

out of curiosity, which game do you prefer playing more? Strat or the other guy?

out of curiosity, which game do you prefer playing more? Strat or the other guy?

I'll PM you, unctarheel.