Home Run Derby

Over the past three seasons, no Ballpark has been more of a launching pad than US Cellular Field, the home of the Chicago White Sox.  And the Southsiders take full advantage of it - no matter how many times Ozzie Guillen will try to sell you that small-ball snake oil he keeps peddling to anyone with a microphone. 

When it opened in 1991, the ballpark became the last bland cookie-cutter stadium in the major leagues as the White Sox missed the upcoming trend of retro ballparks with modern amenities.  And as Home Runs go, it was nothing special, posting a modest AB/HR ratio from 1991-99, even with the Big Hurt regularly depositing balls into the outfield bullpens.  In 2000, the Sox began renovating the park to give it some life – updating the exterior and significantly changing the interior.  The most impressive renovation was in 2004 with the removal of the last eight rows of the stadium (6,600 seats the Sox weren’t selling anyway) and the addition of a roof which covered almost the entire upper deck.  The roof and other adjustments have made the park both more aesthetic and much more potent … 

US Cellular HR Numbers

• 1991-1999:  150.9 HR/YR, 34.85 AB/HR
• 2000-2006:  232.3 HR/YR, 23.92 AB/HR 

Holy Schniekes!!  An eleven point drop in AB/HR!!  They must have moved the fences in or something (they did).  From 1999 to 2000 alone the AB/HR ratio dropped 6.6 frickin points.  I don’t think it’s purely a coincidence that the park suddenly turned into a bandbox simultaneously with the renovations. But wait … let’s do our standard dive into the last three seasons at the Cell and compare them to the other MLB park averages

• Sox        – 397 HR, 20.66 AB/HR  MLB Home –     260.2 HR, 31.34 AB/HR
• Visitors– 340 HR, 25.75 AB/HR  MLB Visitors– 261.2 HR, 32.70 AB/HR

Good God.  Nearly a ten point AB/HR drop for the Sox and a six point drop for visitors.  No wonder the Sox had four 30-HR guys last season.  Someone thought the Sox would be just as good on the road as they were at the Cell …

• Home – 397 HR, 20.66 AB/HR
• Away – 282 HR, 30.28 AB/HR

Uh-oh.  They hit road HR just a bit better than the MLB average … but nothing like they hit them at 35^th and Shields. What about the Sox’ big boppers?  Surely they hit Home Runs at nearly the same pace in both locales … 

I’m surprised by the 8-point swing for Konerko.  Only Dye (2 yrs) has had nearly equal numbers both home/away.  Thome has a small sample size of one season.  I threw in Big Frank’s limited numbers just to show how much it seemed to affect his swing in limited duty his last two years (04-05) he was with the White Sox. 

A word to pitchers taking the bump at US Cellular.  You don’t want flyballs in this park.  Keep the ball down.