Spirit Communications Park (@ColaFireflies)
Until Mets prospects reach AAA, they spend a vast majority of their time in the minors playing in pitchers’ leagues and pitcher’s ballparks. Nowhere was that more true than when the Mets were located in Savannah.
While the Mets full season A affiliate was located in Savannah, they played at Grayson Stadium. Grayson Stadium’s claim to fame was its fairly deep dimensions and it’s 16 foot wall in center field. As the then Savannah and now Columbia manager, Jose Leger, will tell you, “In Savannah, pitchers have lots of confidence because they know they’re not going to get hit. It’s a big-time field. You have to hit the ball well as a hitter, the field’s so big.” (Sam Dykstra, MiLB.com).
It showed last year. Grayson Stadium had a .870 run factor, a .524 home run factor, and a .907 hit factor. In simpler terms, it was harder to hit, score runs, and hit homers in Grayson Stadium.
As an example of how difficult it was to hit there, look at Tomas Nido. Last year in Savannah, Nido hit .259/.284/.372 in 86 games. Despite going up a level and facing more difficult pitching, Nido hit much better in St. Lucie this past season. In 90 games, he would hit .320/.357/.459. It should be noted the Florida State League has a reputation for being a pitcher’s league. While Nido should be credited for improving as a player, it was no doubt beneficial for him to get out of Grayson Stadium.
In the future, we should not expect to see top players like Nido struggle due to the ballpark. With the move to Columbia, the now Fireflies play in Spirit Communications Park. While it is still a pitcher’s park, it is nowhere as extreme a pitcher’s park as Grayson Stadium was.
No one knows this better than Leger, who says, “For me, that field [in Columbia] — it’s kinda hard to describe, but the ball jumps off the bat sometimes. It can definitely be tough to hit some days, but if you get in the good spots like left-center, the ball can be flying. If you hit it right back to center field, there can be a long way to go, and that affects things. But it’s more of a hitters’ ballpark for sure [than Savannah].”
The advanced stats support Leger’s assertions. In its first year, Spirit Communications Park had a .900 run factor, .910 home run factor and .940 hit factor. Essentially, this means that while Spirit Communications Park is a pitcher’s park, it rates much more fair to hitters than Grayson Stadium.
And that’s important. The Mets are not only trying to evaluate hitters, but they are also trying to evaluate pitchers. The team doesn’t want to be left interpreting whether P.J. Conlon‘s incredible ERAs are due to his natural ability or due to the ballpark. In a park like Spirit Communications Park, you have more confidence in Conlon’s 1.84 ERA being attributable to his talent. You certainly have more confidence when Conlon has an even lower 1.41 ERA in St. Lucie.
Ultimately, the Mets move to Spirit Communications Park will be beneficial to the Mets and their prospects because they are now playing at a ballpark that is fair to both hitters and pitchers.
