Taking A Look At Triple-A Park Factors

By Matt Eddy
April 6, 2007

If you've read today's BAPR, you already know Royals hitting machine Billy Butler went deep in his Triple-A debut. An impressive start, no doubt, and an ideal set up to something we ought to get out of the way early: Albuquerque's Isotopes Park, where Butler went 2-for-4 last night, is a very nice place to hit. At least it was last year.

Triple-A Home Runs Park Factors
No.	IL	HR	No.	PCL	HR
1	Charlotte	156	1	Albuquerque	166
2	Syracuse	132	2	Portland	153
3	Pawtucket	132	3	Salt Lake	138
4	Durham	129	4	Memphis	119
5	Buffalo	108	5	Fresno	108
6	Rochester	105	6	Omaha	106
7	Louisville	102	7	Nashville	106
8	Columbus	102	8	Colo. Springs	103
9	Richmond	88	9	Iowa	100
10	Ottawa	85	10	Las Vegas	96
11	Toledo	81	11	Round Rock	94
12	Scranton	80	12	Sacramento	77
13	Indianapolis	70	13	Tucson	76
14	Norfolk	52	14	Tacoma	69
			15	Oklahoma	63
			16	New Orleans	62

Though the minor league data is tough to find, the calculation is simple. Park factors compare all a teams' home output--whether it be home runs, runs or hits--with its road output. An index of 100 means a team did just as well at home as it did on the road. High indexes here suggest favorable home run conditions, such as those in Albuquerque, Portland and Charlotte.

Note that while the Mets embark on their first season with a Pacific Coast League affiliate, after calling Norfolk home for the past 37 years, their new home in New Orleans was similarly tough on home run hitters last season.

All figures presented here pertain to the 2006 season only, so any number of things--stronger-than-usual offense, worse pitching, differences in weather, altered dimensions--might have skewed the numbers. Consider these factors to be rough sketches.

Triple-A Runs Park Factors
No.	IL	R	No.	PCL	R
1	Syracuse	122	1	Albuquerque	150
2	Durham	114	2	Colo. Springs	131
3	Buffalo	114	3	Salt Lake	128
4	Ottawa	110	4	Las Vegas	113
5	Richmond	105	5	Nashville	108
6	Charlotte	104	6	Tucson	101
7	Rochester	103	7	Portland	100
8	Pawtucket	102	8	Omaha	97
9	Scranton	98	9	Fresno	97
10	Columbus	93	10	Memphis	95
11	Indianapolis	91	11	Iowa	88
12	Louisville	91	12	New Orleans	87
13	Toledo	85	13	Sacramento	84
14	Norfolk	75	14	Tacoma	84
			15	Round Rock	81
			16	Oklahoma	74

Albuquerque blows away the field here, too. Interestingly, IL champion Toledo was much worse at plating runs at home, despite the second-best home record in the league, 45-27.

PCL champion Tucson's offense--headed by Stephen Drew, Chris Young, Carlos Quentin, Scott Hairston, Alberto Callaspo and Chris Carter--was equally powerful at home and on the road.

• Butler wasn't the only prospect in PCL to go deep. Mariners center fielder Adam Jones and Athletics first baseman Daric Barton also got off to quick starts home runs in their first games. In the IL, reigning Southern League player of the year Joey Votto, Reds first base uber-prospect, went 2-for-5 in his Triple-A debut.

• Just like last season, Mets center fielder Carlos Gomez, he of the 37-inch vertical leap, went 1-for-3 with a stolen base in his first game in a new league. This year it was the PCL and he added a walk to his final tally. Jumped over high Class A entirely in 2006, Gomez slumped through April and May, hitting .211 with little power.