Power, Stadiums, and Some Surprises

Okay, I'm sure someone has done this comparison somewhere before (certainly ShuBe's Chiba-san has done some articles on the subject), but the discussion about the Baseball America article got me wondering. Just how did the size of Japanese ballparks compare to the Major League ballparks? Would Matsui Hideki's homerun power really turn into doubles power if he crossed over? To be truthful, I expected to find that Matsui played in parks comparable to Major League parks. I was surprised at the results.

Using Latham-san's site for data on the Japanese stadiums (and checking Seibu's webpage for the renovated Seibu Dome's dimensions) and www.ballparksofbaseball.com for data on the major league parks, I entered all the dimensions for the various parks into an Excel sheet and averaged the dimensions for each league. I grouped American League and National League parks together, but kept Central League and Pacific League parks apart. My reasoning was that a player crossing over could play in either league, while for comparison purposes I wanted to keep Ce-League and Pa-League players seperate.

I wanted to show all the data in my article here, but I'm afraid I'm not slick enough with HTML to put together tables. I'll try to summarize the results, instead, and I apologize for not having the info for all to see. Perhaps I can email Westbay-san the Excel file and he can archive it somewhere on the site.

First, a rundown of Major League parks. Neither league seems to have a monopoly on pitchers parks or hitters parks, although the two biggest parks (Safeco Field and Comerica Park) are in the American league, while MLB's premier bandboxes (Coors Field and Enron Field) are in the National League. Comerica Park is the biggest MLB park measuring 346 ft down the left field line, 402(!) ft to left-center, 422(!) ft to straight-away center, 379 ft to right-center, and 330 ft down the right field line. For small ballparks, Fenway is the shortest down the line (L-310 ft, R-302 ft), Enron Field and Wrigley Field have the shortest power alleys (Enron goes 362 ft to left-center, while Wrigley goes 368 to both left-center and right-center), and Cinergy Park is shortest to straight-away center at 393 ft. In general, parks with shallow corners tend to get very deep in center field. (As a Cubs fan, I found it interesting that while Wrigley's power alleys are short, it has the deepest corners of all Major League parks.

The average Major League Park comes out to this: LF-330, LC-382, C-406, RC-377, RF-327. I think those numbers give a good idea of what "Major League" dimensions are, give or take 10 feet. The greatest variations in depth tend to be in the left-field alleys, and the majority of stadiums favor the left-handed pull hitter, either in the alleys or down the line.

I compared these numbers to the Central League data. The Tokyo Dome translates as a Major League size stadium, but a small one. It measures 328 ft down the lines, 361 down the alleys, and 400 feet to straight away center. I recall Chiba-san demonstrating in a ShuBe article that while the corners were deeper than Korakuen, the power alleys actually measure the same distance. There is no Major League park with comparably shallow power alleys. But! It should most definitely be noted that Tokyo Dome's walls are much higher than most Major League parks' walls. According to Latham-san's site, Tokyo Dome's outfield walls are 14 feet high. Any ball going out is going to need some carry.

Once we leave the Tokyo Dome, the case for Matsui Hideki grows tougher. The only other Central League stadium with Major League dimension is Nagoya Dome. Nagoya Dome measures 328 ft in the corners, 380 ft in the alleys, and 400 ft to center field. This is an average sized Major League stadium. Plus, Nagoya Dome also has huge walls, measuring 16 feet tall. This would put it in the pitchers' park category. If a Chunichi Dragon ever leads the league in homers, rest assured he has some ungodly power.

However, Hiroshima Municipal, Jingu, and Yokohama are all much smaller than a standard Major League park. None of them reach 400 ft in center, and have shorter power alleys than Wrigley. Koshien is also very short down the lines and in center, however, Koshien has deeeeeeep power alleys. At 390 ft, they are deeper than in any Major League park. A few MLB parks reach 390 ft in one alley, but not the other. Comerica is 402 ft to left-center, but a mere 379 ft to right-center. Bass must have been hitting them a ton.

So, what does this mean for Matsui Hideki? I'm still not convinced that his power numbers would drop in the Majors, if he went. When Godzilla goes yard, there's no doubt. He's smacked the Tokyo Dome backwall more than once. The high walls of Tokyo Dome and Nagoya Dome are also a factor. He'd have a longer schedule in the majors. Plus, since the average fastball speed is higher in the majors, it would not be out of line to assume that his home runs would travel even further. I don't think 40 would be an exaggeration, and I don't think 50 would be impossible.

Now, what really fascinated me was the Pacific League. After looking at the numbers, I think they've given new validation to Tuffy Rhodes' accomplishment (though I think the ball's been made lively) and now I'm convinced that Matsunaka has all the power a Major League manager would ever want in a first baseman. Keep in mind that last year he went yard 33 times while hitting .312, and this year he hit 36 homers with a .334 average.

The Pa League stadium averages are 327 ft to the corners, 374 ft down the alleys, and 400 ft to straight-away center. But these numbers are in fact brought down by the Tokyo Dome's shallow power alleys. If you remove Tokyo Dome, the averages for the corners and centerfield remain the same, but the power alleys jump to 387 ft. This is much deeper than the average Major League power alley. On top of this, all Pa League stadiums have huge outfield walls. Seibu's fence varies, but it's possible to rob a batter of a homerun there. However, Green Stadium's fence is 13 feet high, the Marine Stadium fence measures 14 feet high, and Osaka Dome's fence measures 16 feet high. But the pitchers' park of pitchers' parks is in Fukuoka. It's generous dimensions are 328 ft to the corners, 400 ft to center, and 387 ft down the alleys. Added to all this is a 19(!) foot high fence. There are no cheap homeruns in the Pacific League, and Matsunaka has earned every one of his jacks. If he can hit 30+ while playing half his games in the Fukuoka Dome...jeez, I shudder to think of what he'd do in Fenway or Wrigley. Iguchi and Jojima also hit 30+ this year, but since they've never done it before, I'm not sure it's not because of the livelier ball. Kokubo hit 44 this year and has hit 30 before, but I'm thinking he's benefitted from the livelier ball. But Matsunaka, he hit over 30 last year, when the ball was less lively, and of all the 30+ homers players except Bolick, he did it in the fewer number of at-bats (475). Plus, he also hit .334 this year. All this in a stadium with a deeper right field (from alley to line) than any in Major League baseball and oodles of foul ground. Ladies and gentlemen, I think Matsunaka Nobuhiko may just be the most underrated power hitter in the baseball world. With that kind of consistant production in the league he plays in, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that he is a better slugger than Matsui Hideki. Put him in the Major Leagues in an average sized park with the standard short left-field, with a longer schedule and plenty of 90+ fastballs to feast on on 2-0, 3-1 counts, and he'd be a top echelon hitter, in a class with Griffey and Sosa.

When I lived in Japan, I was often upset that Fukuoka Hawks games would often be shown, but not BlueWave or Buffaloes games. I'd still like to see Orix and Kintetsu games, but now I think I'd be very interested in a Hawks game. I could hardly pass up a chance to watch such a premier slugger...