Marlins Park Heating Up for Hitters

There were a lot of questions about Marlins Park before the season: “Hitters’ park or pitchers’ park?” There is a lot of season left to play out, but through nearly two months this season, it appears that the hitters have the advantage.

If ‘chicks dig the long ball’ (like the old MLB commercial claimed), they might be slightly disappointed in the new park. If ‘chicks’ dig runs, then there is no park they would dig more than Marlins Park.

Through the first 21 home games (including Friday night’s 7-6 win over San Francisco), 225 runs have been scored – an average of 10.7 runs per game. The scoring has been more pronounced recently, with scoring spiking to 11.8 runs per game in the last 10 home games. With nearly a quarter of the home season complete, Marlins Park ranks #1 in the majors in MLB Park Factors rankings, with a 1.551 score for hitting advantage in home games vs road games (1.000 is average – below favors pitchers, above favors hitters).

We shouldn’t draw too many conclusions based on the early sample size, but at this stage of the season, it would appear that hitters are taking advantage of the dimensions, and scoring plenty of runs. The runs are plentiful, but home runs have been down at the new park vs the major league average in 2012.

It hasn’t hurt that the Miami Marlins‘ offense woke up in the month of May, propelled by Giancarlo Stanton, among others. After hitting .247 with 1 HR and 9 RBI in April, Stanton has blistering the ball in May, hitting .323 with 10 HR and 25 RBI.

Jose Reyes also has caught fire in May, hitting .299 for the month, and stealing 10 bases in 11 attempts.

The Marlins hope to keep piling up the runs with 13 more home games in the next 16 on the schedule. Only a three-game road trip to Philadelphia to face the fPhiladelphia Phillies interrupts series with the Washinton Nationals, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, and Boston Red Sox.