BaseballHappenings.com

A few weeks ago, I had noted that Dodgers Stadium in 2006 had become more of a pitcher neutral ballpark, and had not behaved like a pitchers park that it has been known to be. In fact, it was ranked the #10 hitters ballpark. I was advised that one year does not make a trend, and to look at a longer time frame. Well, today I found what I was looking for with the historical park factors .

Interesting how it went from like 25th in 2005 to where it was in 2006:

Ever since its opening in 1962, Dodger Stadium has long been recognized as one of the most extreme pitchers parks in baseball. Over the past few years, Dodger Stadium has gradually leaned more towards the hitters’ favor, most likely from the depletion of foul territory from the recent installation of additional field boxes. In 2006, Dodger Stadium had a hitter-friendly, home run park factor of 1.22 (1.00 being indifferent to hitters or pitchers), while AT&T Park in San Francisco had a home run park factor of 0.69. If this trend continues in 2007, Schmidt could surrender more home runs in 2007 since he’s a fly-ball pitcher who had the fifth lowest groundball-to-fly ball ratio in the National League last year.

Last but not least, Schmidt’s shoulder weakness in 2005 is another negative factor to consider given his age is 34. Shoulder problems are a red flag because generally they are the most devastating ailments to a pitcher’s career. In Schmidt’s defense though, he did instill a rigorous workout regimen last offseason in which credited to his healthy turnaround in 2006