Angels are lowering the right field fence to 8ft

[Billy_Ball]

New scoreboards in place

[Biergott]

The tan/beige paint has been replaced with the dark green on the buildings below the scoreboards.  Also, the retired numbers are gone from the RF building...do they always take those down in the offseason?

[well_red]

always wondered why the hedges in center field are so sad.  they've looked near death for several years now.  i guess nothing says "OC" like crappy trimmed hedges and fake rock water features.  

[Lou]

13 minutes ago, well_red said:

always wondered why the hedges in center field are so sad.  they've looked near death for several years now.  i guess nothing says "OC" like crappy trimmed hedges and fake rock water features.  

I was driving by the stadium the other day and saw some employees hauling in the new addition to the rock display

[Docwaukee]

43 minutes ago, Lou said:

I was driving by the stadium the other day and saw some employees hauling in the new addition to the rock display

from rock pile to knock(er) pile.  

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 2/20/2018 at 10:10 AM, Troll Daddy said:

They should repaint the yellow line before every game. 

Make it adjustable. Moves up when the visitors hit, down when we do.

[ten ocho recon scout]

5 hours ago, NorCal Halo said:

So here's the real question: was AK's performance and that title worth the trade of Jim Edmonds?

Thats one of those quesrions that there is no right answer to.

Edmonds for kennedy on paper is horrible. But im not sure what edmonds trade value was back then. Pending FA, supposedly clubhouse problem.

Some probably forget 2B back then was like 2B recently. And LF. And 3B. Revolving door. 2002 aside, kennedy was a very reliable 2B for us for several years, and very liked in the clubhouse.

Id much rsther have kept edmonds. But who knows, maybe he leaves that year as a FA anyway. And we have to keep using jusin baughman at 2B.

[totdprods]

Good article today in The Athletic($$) about the new dimensions and some more detail on who may benefit, and suffer, from the change. Nothing too surprising, but some highlights...

Andrew Perpetua@AndrewPerpetua
When Citi Field lowered their left field fence from 16ft to 8ft the home run rate over that section of wall went up about 28-29%. The home run rate for the stadium as a whole went up about 12%. I think you'll see that same sort of change in Angels Stadium.
9:51 AM - Feb 22, 2018

Paraphrasing some highlights...
Kole Calhoun: hit .474 with a 1.632 SLG on pulled balls to RF, but that was only good for 100th on pulled fly ball production, and out of 464 players that put 50+ balls in play last year, he was 207th in pulled fly ball rate. Should put him over 20 HRs.
Luis Valbuena: the Angels' leader in pulled fly ball rate, ranking 121st. Could hit 25+ if he gets the playing time.
Shohei Ohtani: may not benefit as much as expected, as NPB hitters tend to pull less often.
Justin Upton and Mike Trout: Upton was the most prolific opposite-field fly-ball righty on the team last year, but Trout's were  better distance. They combined for 6 opposite field home runs last year, and nine or ten combined seems reasonable this year.
Tyler Skaggs: Highest of Angel starters who have up RF fly-balls (min. 75 in play), ranking 52nd of 181. 38% of his balls in play went to RF, with a .558 SLG. Parker Bridwell ranked 55th, and his SLG against to that part of the field was over .700%.
Angels: Surrendered the 9th-most flyballs to RF in 2017, but also had the poorest overall SLG at home in the AL. 

[Angelsfirst]

On 2/22/2018 at 3:56 PM, NorCal Halo said:

So here's the real question: was AK's performance and that title worth the trade of Jim Edmonds?

In hindsight, yes.   

[tdawg87]

The real reason they made the fence shorter is so Ohtani doesn't feel bad. They're also making the Big A 75 feet shorter.

[totdprods]

At a quick glance at some spray charts, Calhoun looks like he may have pulled in 4-8 more HRs last year, and Valbuena 5-6.

[Amazing Larry]

Calhoun will benefit offensively but it's going to be tougher for him and other RF's out in the field. Instead of playing high hit balls off the wall they'll have to try and rob them. 

[eligrba]

My company would have opted to raise the field than lower the fence.

 

[Tank]

On 2/23/2018 at 8:23 PM, tdawg87 said:

The real reason they made the fence shorter is so Ohtani doesn't feel bad. They're also making the Big A 75 feet shorter.

you know the bats by the giant helmets outside the home plate entrance? they're changing those into giant chopsticks.

[WeatherWonk]

Help me understand this new line. What is ABOVE AND BEYOND the line? Is it an open space where the ball can land or is it just wall that the ball can bounce off?

Seems to be that most yellow line demarcations are at a height where a fielder cant reach. But this will be very reachable. Are we in store for a fair amount of HRs that hit off a fielder's glove (possibly even below the yellow line's height) and then impact the wall above the yellow line? Sounds like an umpire's nightmare in real time. Look for many more HR replays.

Worst case. There could be balls that are called HRs that, on replay inspection, turn out to not have been above the yellow line. How do you overturn that? It just becomes a ground rule double?

What happens if a ball enters a fielder's glove above the yellow line, comes out on impact, and stays on the playing field?

[WeatherWonk]

On 2/23/2018 at 12:54 PM, totdprods said:

Good article today in The Athletic($$) about the new dimensions and some more detail on who may benefit, and suffer, from the change. Nothing too surprising, but some highlights...

Andrew Perpetua@AndrewPerpetua
When Citi Field lowered their left field fence from 16ft to 8ft the home run rate over that section of wall went up about 28-29%. The home run rate for the stadium as a whole went up about 12%. I think you'll see that same sort of change in Angels Stadium.
9:51 AM - Feb 22, 2018

Paraphrasing some highlights...
Kole Calhoun: hit .474 with a 1.632 SLG on pulled balls to RF, but that was only good for 100th on pulled fly ball production, and out of 464 players that put 50+ balls in play last year, he was 207th in pulled fly ball rate. Should put him over 20 HRs.
Luis Valbuena: the Angels' leader in pulled fly ball rate, ranking 121st. Could hit 25+ if he gets the playing time.
Shohei Ohtani: may not benefit as much as expected, as NPB hitters tend to pull less often.
Justin Upton and Mike Trout: Upton was the most prolific opposite-field fly-ball righty on the team last year, but Trout's were  better distance. They combined for 6 opposite field home runs last year, and nine or ten combined seems reasonable this year.
Tyler Skaggs: Highest of Angel starters who have up RF fly-balls (min. 75 in play), ranking 52nd of 181. 38% of his balls in play went to RF, with a .558 SLG. Parker Bridwell ranked 55th, and his SLG against to that part of the field was over .700%.
Angels: Surrendered the 9th-most flyballs to RF in 2017, but also had the poorest overall SLG at home in the AL. 

I sure hope that an increase between Trout and Upton is more than 3-5 HRs.

[Tank]

16 minutes ago, WeatherWonk said:

Help me understand this new line. What is ABOVE AND BEYOND the line? Is it an open space where the ball can land or is it just wall that the ball can bounce off?

Seems to be that most yellow line demarcations are at a height where a fielder cant reach. But this will be very reachable. Are we in store for a fair amount of HRs that hit off a fielder's glove (possibly even below the yellow line's height) and then impact the wall above the yellow line? Sounds like an umpire's nightmare in real time. Look for many more HR replays.

Worst case. There could be balls that are called HRs that, on replay inspection, turn out to not have been above the yellow line. How do you overturn that? It just becomes a ground rule double?

What happens if a ball enters a fielder's glove above the yellow line, comes out on impact, and stays on the playing field?

it SOUNDS like it will simply be a painted line. we haven't seen it yet so we're not sure exactly what it'll look like.

[Tank]

7 minutes ago, calscuf said:

They should coat the balls in felt and make the area above the line the material that felt sticks to.  Home runs will simply stick to the wall and everything else will bounce back into play.

here's video of kole calhoun testing out your theory, cals.

 

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, WeatherWonk said:

I sure hope that an increase between Trout and Upton is more than 3-5 HRs.

It's not scientific by any means - I haven't dug deep enough to actually find a site where I can map out Angel Stadiums' overlay - but I did flip through Fangraphs' spray charts. 

Looking at Trout's for '17 to RF (again, this could be any ballpark too) I only see one hit that resulted in a double and one batted ball that was an out along the path where others went for HRs. Since he was hurt for a chunk of '17, I went back to 2016 and there were quite a few more instances that could see a change with this. I count three doubles and five outs that could fall into HR territory with new dimensions. 

[Aaronkv]

Step 1: Get awesome new Video boards, HD, Massive, the works.

Step 2: Make the actual game useful/info area the same as the outgoing boards

Step 3: Fill the rest with adds.

Step 4: Profit.

 

I knew it was coming though. Isn't that how Arte made his money?

[Aaronkv]

Petco's new board isn't covered with adds as much.

 

 

 

Another note on the RF boundary Change, a little portion of wall that jutted out has been removed as well.

 

 

 

 

[Inside Pitch]

Looking at those pics -- the Petco board could fit in the middle section of the Angels new one...   Its nowhere near as big...

[Ohtaniland]

So this would’ve been ruled a home run. 

 

[Ochocinco!]

God i miss Petco park ... have to head down there for at least a weekend set this season. By far the best stadium in baseball imo.

[Aaronkv]

17 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

Looking at those pics -- the Petco board could fit in the middle section of the Angels new one...   Its nowhere near as big...

Petco's is deceiving from the picture with all the buildings around it. It's 7500sf, the new Angel Stadium one is 9500sf.

 

Not the end of the world, I'm sure when they show replays or other in-between AB stuff it'll be full screen. Plus I could care less for the most part, I'm not there to watch the screen. Nice for replays being able to actually see though.