Comerica Park might actually be a hitters' haven

This browser does not support the video element.

Longtime Tigers outfielder Bobby Higginson once referred to Detroit's home field as "Comerica National Park," a tongue-in-cheek reference to just how large the outfield dimensions at the then-new park were. It's a good line that also holds more than a bit of truth. Thanks to a deepest-in-baseball center-field fence that's 420 feet away, Detroit has become known as an extreme pitchers' park, as the place homers go to die.
It's not hard to see where that reputation comes from, especially with the data Statcast™ has accumulated over the last three seasons. In 2017, players hit nearly 2,200 batted balls that were projected to go at least 410 feet, and as you'd expect, they were overwhelmingly hits -- nearly 99 percent of them. Only 28 of those crushed balls turned into outs. More than a third of those, 10, were in Detroit. No other park had more than four.
Due to that, Comerica is seen as a terrible place to hit. But what if it's also a great place to, well, hit?
We started thinking about this last summer when outfielder J.D. Martinez was traded to the D-backs. Going from spacious Detroit to cozy Arizona, the theory went, would boost his stats; and while he did mash with the D-backs, it wasn't about getting away from Comerica. As a Tiger in 2017, Martinez hit .336/.430/.748 (.467 wOBA) at home, but just .269/.337/.495 (.348 wOBA) on the road. It wasn't just a small-sample thing: Over his Tigers career, dating back to 2014, he'd had a .408 wOBA at home and a .363 wOBA on the road.

This browser does not support the video element.

The same held true up and down the lineup. Before catcher Alex Avila was traded to the Cubs, he'd had a similar experience to Martinez. At Comerica in 2017, he had a .415 wOBA; on the road, it was .316. When we looked at why Miguel Cabrera had the sport's largest gap between expected outcomes and actual outcomes, we figured it would be because many high-value batted balls turned into outs in Detroit; and while that was true, it was also because he had a .351 wOBA at home and just a .277 mark on the road.
Of the 17 Tigers hitters who had at least 40 plate appearances both home and away in 2017, 13 hit better at home. Nick Castellanos had a .365 wOBA at home, and just a .315 mark away. Even light-hitting shortstop José Iglesias mashed better at home, putting up a slugging percentage of .398 in Detroit against only .338 on the road.
From a team perspective, the 2017 Tigers ranked very highly in terms of teams that simply hit better at home, nearly as high as some clubs that are considered to have extremely hitter-friendly parks.
Biggest home-field runs scored advantage, 2017
+152 Rockies
+102 D-backs
+99 Rangers
+97 Tigers
+95 A's
Biggest home-field SLG% advantage, 2017
+.108 Rockies
+.094 D-backs
+.081 Tigers
+.069 A's
+.059 Rangers
Biggest home-field wOBA advantage, 2017
+.061 Rockies
+.051 D-backs
+.048 Rangers
+.045 Tigers
+.034 Nationals

This browser does not support the video element.

It's not just about hitters. Tigers pitchers allowed 462 runs at home in 2017, the highest number in baseball, and only 432 on the road, the seventh-most. It's not just about 2017. Over the last decade, Tigers bats have had a better wOBA at home every single year, with the cumulative difference between their .344 home mark and .319 road mark ending up as baseball's fifth-largest.

For all of the reputation as a pitchers' park, offense hasn't suffered in Detroit, other than on a few very specific deep drives to center field and the power alleys that the ballpark kept in the yard. What else is going on here?
Here's one theory: A large, dark batter's eye might just make it easier to see the ball and make hard contact with it.

"You see the ball well there," said Brandon Moss, then of the Royals, when he was asked last summer about his success at Comerica. In 22 career games in Detroit, Moss has eight homers and a .322/.375/.667 line. "It's a nice ballpark, but that's really all there is. I see the ball well there. It's got a good batter's eye."
"There isn't anything out there to distract you like some ballparks," said Avila, who spent eight of his first nine seasons with the Tigers. When he spent a year with the White Sox in 2016, he hit just .213/.359/.373 overall, but reached base six times in 14 plate appearances (including a double and a home run) as a visitor in Detroit. 
Martinez, before his own trade out of town, gave more credence to the overall home-field advantage that most athletes enjoy.
"When you're at home, you feel comfortable," he said. But he also pointed out why the road can be more difficult. "It's a different backdrop, everything's different, something you're not used to."
Back in 2015, Justin Upton, then with the Padres, told FanGraphs that "the one thing I look for in a park is whether you see the ball well." He'd soon sign with Detroit as a free agent, and in a season-and-a-half as a Tiger, he hit .276/.363/.520 (.372 wOBA) at home, as opposed to only .248/.309/.483 (.335 wOBA) on the road.

This browser does not support the video element.

Torii Hunter got right to the point in a 2014 interview: "For me, a good park to hit in is a batter's eye that's all black. Minnesota is all black. Seattle is all black. At our park [Comerica], it's dark green and some black, so you can kind of pick up this little white ball."
In two seasons as a Tiger, Hunter had a .353 wOBA at home, and a .328 mark away.
If this is true -- if it's really easier to see the ball there -- then you'd expect it to manifest in two specific stats, aside from runs scored and slugging. You'd expect to see fewer strikeouts, and you'd expect to see more hard contact. For the most part, you do.
More contact at home
In 2017, Tigers batters struck out in 19.6 percent of their plate appearances at home, the 22nd-highest mark in baseball. On the road, that jumped to 23.1 percent, the ninth-highest. While it's true that teams do enjoy a home-field advantage -- only nine whiffed more on the road than they did at home -- the Tigers had the second-largest strikeout rate advantage, behind only the Rockies.
One year isn't enough. Let's expand it back a full 10 years. At home, only one team struck out less often than the Tigers' 17.2 percent: the notoriously contact-friendly Royals. On the road, only 11 teams struck out more than their 20.2 percent. The resulting gap was the third-largest, behind only the Rockies and Pirates.
It's the same on the pitching side. From 2008-17, a full 24 teams had a higher strikeout rate at home than the Tigers. Only three teams -- again, the Rockies, Royals and Pirates -- had more of a home strikeout disadvantage than the Tigers did.
You can see it in the numbers of the greats. Justin Verlander struck out more away from Comerica (23.1 percent) than he did at home (22.5 percent) as a Tiger. So did Max Scherzer (25.4 percent at home, 26.5 percent away). Compare that to, say, Clayton Kershaw, who has a career 29.1 percent whiff rate in Dodger Stadium, as opposed to 26.6 percent on the road.
Better contact at home
This is something we have only been able to measure in the few years of Statcast™, but it holds up. In 2017, Tigers hitters at home had a 35.7 percent hard-hit rate (balls hit with an exit velocity of 95 mph or above), the fourth-highest in baseball. On the road, that was 32.7 percent, the 11th-highest. Given the actual outcomes in terms of runs scored and slugging percentage, that shouldn't be surprising.
Detroit pitchers allowed hard-hit balls on 34.3 percent of balls in play at home, sixth-highest, and just 32.4 percent of the time on the road, 15th-highest. While Tigers batters hit harder at home, Tigers pitchers did better away.

This browser does not support the video element.

Looking at a more complicated stat like Expected wOBA -- which attempts to ignore the effects of ballpark and defense and looks just at expected outcomes of exit velocity, launch angle, strikeouts, and walks -- it's similar. Tigers hitters at home had the highest xwOBA in 2017, at .346, and the 15th-highest on the road, at .308. Their pitchers allowed the highest xwOBA at home, and the 10th-highest on the road.
As a venue, Comerica had the highest xwOBA in baseball, and again, that's just about the moment of contact, not about outcomes. In terms of outcomes, the venue's actual wOBA was second, behind only Coors. It wouldn't be unexpected to have some minor park-to-park fluctuations in terms of measuring things like exit velocity, but obviously that wouldn't affect the actual real-world outcomes at all.
Despite all that, the pitcher-friendly reputation persists, because the deep center field does swallow up some valuable batted balls, of course, and because there's some research which suggests the wind blowing in from right-center has a serious effect. (Interestingly, the effects of the sun in Detroit are unique as well, given that no park in the game is positioned, in an east-west basis, like Comerica is.)
It's frustrating for a batter to call Comerica home, understandably. The feeling of hitting what is essentially a home run over 410 feet, just to find it becoming merely another out, must be deflating. But it's not all bad, either. In some ways, it's a fantastic place to hit.

More from MLB.com

seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com