Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Yankee Stadium Will Not Help Chase Headley Much


Just a quick hit for all you Yankees fans out there that think newly acquired Chase Headley will improve offensively after moving from Yellow Stone PETCO Park and moving to Yankee Stadium. MLB Gameday  Balls in Play (BIP) location stat disagrees with that notion. Obviously this is in a vacuum and in a perfect world and we're all just guessing here, even the experts, but I like to look at BIP locations when acquiring a new player. It's no secret that the Yankees (should have) a secret weapon with the new Yankee Stadium but Headley doesn't look like he will utilize it much this season.

Dark Blue are home runs
Teal are doubles
Orange are fly outs


As you can see Headley has hit two home runs in San Diego this season and both would be in the bleachers in Yankee Stadium. What intrigues me are the doubles. According to BIP all of his doubles in PETCO stay in the ballpark in New York but you have to remember the weather factor and mother nature. I have never been to San Diego personally but I have to imagine the humidity is higher in San Diego and I have to think the ball travels more in New York, especially with wind currents. We could see a few of those doubles going out down the line and resulting in Yankee Stadium home runs if Headley is lucky. Same goes for the fly outs as some are warning track power in New York. While Headley will not return to his 2011 and 2012 stats while coming to New York the stadium could help him improve, but not by much.


6 comments:

  1. A few more home runs would be nice, but I'm more concerned about his batting average and on-base percentage.

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  2. I agree. Headley is what he is, he's not a .300 hitter but I don't believe he is a .220 hitter either. With a large enough sample size I think that corrects itself on it's own, Yankee Stadium or not. Just glad we're going to be getting the good side of the correction.

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  3. Where he'll help the most is keeping Johnson off the field. Unfortunately, Girardi had given up on Solarte. Johnson was his veteran option so he was getting the bulk of the playing time. Now if we could just do something to make Roberts a utility guy and not a starter.

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    1. I hope he keeps Johnson off the field but if last night was any indication he may keep Ichiro off the field more than Johnson.

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  4. Sometimes I wonder if Solarte truly was just a flash in the pan. I mean, it's not as if he was new to professional baseball.

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    1. He probably was but he could also be a late bloomer. Rookies slump and NY is a hard place to slump, you start trying to do too much and you are your worst enemy.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)