28.10. Bombs Away!

[agrudez]

In case you weren't already aware, the Huntsville Phantoms extended their fences back to give a spike to LHB HRs in the offseason. We caught up with a couple players in the offseason and while RHBs, pitchers and contact+speed guys ranged from lamenting to not caring about the change, there were at least two players that were *very* excited about the development: Moreno and Ibanez.

And why shouldn't they be? They are both LHBs with tremendous power well suited to take advantage of the new stadium adjustment. As are Curry, McKillen and the dearly departed El... as well as our two top prospects in the high minors: Andrade and J. Rodriguez. So, with a month of the season now in the books, we are starting to get an early glimpse as to the impact that the new stadium modifiers might be having and the results are trending towards incredible - even with playing nearly half of their April games on the road.

Thus far in the early goings, the Phantoms have launched 51 balls out of a stadium - good for 1st in not only the JL, but in the MBBA. The team immediately trailing them in the MBBA overall, New Orleans, has 45 and in the JL, California (who saw THAT coming?), has 43. There are 5 teams in the JL (50% of the conference including Huntsville as the 6th) whom have less than *half* of what the Phantoms have posted for a HR total in the early goings: VAN (22), OMA (14), YS (24), JAX (20), HFX (18). This has also, obviously, resulted in Huntsville having posted the best OPS in the JL as well at .837. 34 points above the 2nd place team (BRK) and 47 above the 3rd place team (VAL). Oddly enough, this has not translated to HSV having the most runs accumulated, though, as they trail VAL by 2 runs in a tie with BRK for 2nd at 147. Beyond that; however, you can't help but be ecstatic over the early season offensive output - particularly after the El injury early on robbed the lineup of having a good bottom third of the lineup.

On an individual level, the story gets even more interesting. Ibanez and Moreno in the piece linked above gave the following statements respectively:

"Welp, looks like being a one trick pony isn't so bad after all!" -Ibanez

"Are you serious?! Shit, man... I'm going to chase some records!" -Moreno

In Ibanez's case, a one-trick pony is exactly what he's been thus far. With an OBP south of .300, Ibanez's 11 HRs to date have given him an absolutely absurd (and pretty obviously unsustainable) .38 ISO. To say we'll gladly take that from him is an extreme understatement - even as someone that, at times, fetishizes OBP. In Moreno's case, his current 10 HRs put him on pace for a 60 HR season. Even if he slows down a bit (likely), only 2 players have eclipsed 55 HRs in a single season since the 1997 season - Ritchie with 66 in 2010 before he got that Omaha stink on him and Bernando Perez with 56 last season after getting a shipment of clean urine samples from Havana to store in his beer fridge.

On the flip side, incredibly, the Phantoms rank first in the JL in HRA with only 21 given up. With an average MOV of '8' across the pitching staff and 3 Southpaws in the rotation, it was clear that we were setting ourselves up well to mitigate the impact of the stadium adjustment, but to be the best? Of all the wonky April things I've seen over the last few years, I'd suspect that this would be the least likely to stand up over the course of 162. Somewhat ironically, it is our big offseason pitching acquisition, Chris Lee, whom was picked up exactly *because* of the stadium mod due to his insane GB rate (72%) and '8' MOV as a Southpaw that has been the most HRA prone thus far - with an astonishing 8 given up in 6 GS (after giving up 12 in 31 starts last season).

[bschr682]

When you say moved fences back, you mean moved fences in right? Moving them back would make it harder to hit homers...

[agrudez]

When you say moved fences back, you mean moved fences in right? Moving them back would make it harder to hit homers...

That would make more sense, yeah.

[RonCo]

If Huntsville isn't leading the JL in HR in that park it's a tough year for them.