The new guys and the Monster

[MakMan44]

Fangraphs took a look at how Hanley & Pablo could adjust to Fenway.
 
There's a lot of interesting stuff in there and I suggest you go read the piece. 
 
The takeaway though, for those to lazy to do so:
 

 Both of these players make plenty of contact — the largest, and likely most underrated factor of all — and, on balance, make the types of contact that should be favored by their new home park.

 
Warm and fuzzies, folks. 

 

[Mike F]

While the author cited Ted Williams he failed to mention a Williams quote from My Turn At Bat.
TSW loudly proclaimed that the advantage to him as a LHH was the extra time it allowed him to wait on pitches. The wall would catch some late swing fly balls. The wall offered him the luxury of time.
Let's hope Panda can take a much advantage of the wall.

 

[lxt]

 

 Both of these players make plenty of contact — the largest, and likely most underrated factor of all — and, on balance, make the types of contact that should be favored by their new home park.

Good stuff ... 50 doubles for Hanley Whoa!. I image Panda's number last year were a tad off from previous and he would put up some good numbers. His weight was up which I'm sure took some of his offense away. If he sheds about 20 - 30 pounds (not going wild here) I imagine he'd pick up a bit and Fenway would make that improvement even more significant. Triples, as the article indicates, would disappear but image doubles will be significant for Panda.

 
Thanks for the article.

 

[67WasBest]

 
For instance, MLB hitters batted .071 AVG/.142 SLG on fly balls hit between 87.5 mph to 90 mph to LCF in 2014. They batted .444 AVG/.917 SLG on such fly balls at Fenway in 2014. Thirty-six such fly balls and 15 doubles. That is simply staggering. At 12 other MLB parks — including Coors Field — hitters garnered zero hits on those fly balls in 2014.

Staggering variation.  Fenway generating 1.361 OPS more than 12 parks on 36 weak fly balls last year.  Knew there was a value to the wall, never dreamed it could be that substantial.

 

[Snodgrass'Muff]

Great article. This makes me feel quite a bit better about Sandoval and is another example of how the front office is thinking about players on a completely different level than we do. Thanks for posting this,

 

[Eddie Jurak]

While the author cited Ted Williams he failed to mention a Williams quote from My Turn At Bat.
TSW loudly proclaimed that the advantage to him as a LHH was the extra time it allowed him to wait on pitches. The wall would catch some late swing fly balls. The wall offered him the luxury of time.
Let's hope Panda can take a much advantage of the wall.

 
Really?  Wasn't Williams always a dead pull hitter?  (Except for the early part of 1957 when he temporarily switched to a heavier bat). 

 

[Savin Hillbilly]

Staggering variation.  Fenway generating 1.361 OPS more than 12 parks on 36 weak fly balls last year.  Knew there was a value to the wall, never dreamed it could be that substantial.

 
This also incidentally underscores the importance of pitchers with high GB rates at Fenway. Which does make Tyson Ross (57% GB rate in 2014) pretty attractive.

 

[67WasBest]

 
This also incidentally underscores the importance of pitchers with high GB rates at Fenway. Which does make Tyson Ross (57% GB rate in 2014) pretty attractive.

On board, Ross has been a favored target of mine since before they announced he could be had in the right deal.