Mike Puma of the NY Post writes about how the Mets have figured out their problems at Citi Field this season.
During the offseason, the team moved the fences in for the second time in four seasons, and the decision already appears to be paying off.
The Mets are 32-14 at home, and have seen an increase of five home runs compared to last year during the same amount of games.
“It’s all relative,” Alderson said. “If we’re up on a net basis by just a tad, it’s worth it.”
Alderson, who wanted the stadium to play more neutral, says he’s interested to see how the dimensions affect the hitters in the second half.
“We’re talking about [46] games, so I would be interested to see what happens in the second half,” Alderson said. “We’ve got left-handed hitters in [Daniel] Murphy — he’s not really a home-run hitter and he was out part of the year. [Curtis] Granderson has hit the home runs, but I don’t think he’s been advantaged by that short fence and then Lucas Duda [had] a rough stretch, so those are the guys who are really going to have to take advantage of it.”
Both Granderson and Duda’s numbers at home are drastically improved. Granderson’s home OPS has increased from .630 to .777 this year, and Duda’s OPS at home this season stands at .943 compared to .793 last year.
However, Granderson doesn’t believe the fences are the only factor.
“The only thing I’ve noticed is, in general, the balls are carrying better than the year before, and I’ve noticed that in batting practice,” Granderson said. “You never see anybody hit the ball into center field in BP and I’m out there and I’m watching balls go into the [home run] apple.”
Terry Collins agrees with Granderson and believes the weather is causing the balls the carry better.
“I think this is the best weather we’ve had since I’ve been managing the Mets,” Collins said. “It’s been warmer. I think that has helped us.”
Another possibility is that the change has helped the hitters’ mental approach. There was a lot of talk from Collins last year that the dimensions were forcing the players to try too hard.
Now, the hitters have one less problem to think about and are experiencing better results.
