Mike Fontenot has 20% of 2011′s Left-handed Home Runs at ATT

Published by on June 21, 2011 | 10 Responses

Playing around with Baseball Reference the other day, I noticed something odd. In 966 PAs, there have only been five homeruns hit at AT&T Park by left-handed batters this year. While AT&T is famous for suppressing left-handed power, that’s about a third of the rate that balls usually leave the yard in the post Bonds era.

I’m at a loss to explain this power outage, but a few ideas have occurred to me:

  1. The weather has been unseasonably cold.
  2. The Giants themselves have lacked left handed power this year, as Huff has slumped and Sandoval and Torres have missed time.
  3. It always plays like this at the beginning of the year and I’ve just never noticed before.

That’s all I’ve got. #2 can’t be the whole explanation, because opposing lefties have been even worse.  The Giants have three of the five home runs: one apiece from Aubrey Huff, Nate Schierholtz and Mike Fontenot.

So what do you think? Is there anything to explain, or am I missing something?

Article written by

10 comments
  Livefyre
Newest | Oldest
yogiberra
yogiberra

Bochy should make the Lineup by Salary, in reverse order.... Bat Rowand last, Huff second to last, Derosa third to last, Tejada fourth to last, etc.... Burrell & Fontenot in the middle, with rookies, such as Darren Ford, leading off! The same goes for Starting Pitching....Vogelsong & Bumgarner are the new Aces, with the exception of Cain, Lincecum is the 5th Starter, followed by Zito, at 6th Position.

Rory Paap
Rory Paap

The Giants are again leading the league in HR/FB ratio (6.1 percent). Ya... Righetti has sleeve of Wizard. They've been a top-5 HR/FB team in MLB for like 10 seasons in a row, mostly first and second.

Rory Paap
Rory Paap

I just did click the link. That IS remarkable, as the next closest is Petco at 13. The Reds' Park has had 61! What a fun yard to pitch in! (for HR Derby)

Julian Levine
Julian Levine

What's the usual HR/PA for LHH at ATT Park? For some reason, I can't access any of the splits from 2010/earlier. BB-Ref keeps saying "500 - Internal Server Error"

oldjacket
oldjacket

I looked at a few years before BB-Ref mysteriously stopped working, and it was about 1.5%

Rory Paap
Rory Paap

Wouldn't work for me either! Blasted B-R!

Rory Paap
Rory Paap

Nearly Homeless Arcade Recipe: 1. Giants' offense sucks (1 CUP) 2. Giants' pitching is awesome (1 CUP) 3. Small sample (1 TSP) 4. Offense is down (1 TSP) 5. Unseasonably cold weather (1 TSP) 6. Sandoval injury (1 TSP) 7. Also: the Giants' offense sucks while the Giants' pitching is awesome. /xFIPd

oldjacket
oldjacket

Some of this recipe is delicious and some of it is disgusting. Like a caprese salad dressed in beat juice and kambucha.