They’re at 56 home runs through 17 games. For reference, we’re at 26 through 16, and I thought we were hitting a lot
UGA Home Runs
- Thread starter ZombieKissinger
- Start date
wow!Do they have a small park? It seems like they hit a lot last year. I think it is Arkansas that hits a bunch at home and then not so much on the road b/c their park is small.
They hit 144 last year. There were 4-5 loud outs that we hit in Texas last weekend that would have been HR’s in Starkville.
However, UGA’s opponents have only hit 9 HR so far, while our opponents have hit 14.
They have always have been a sleeping giant in Baseball, they just never put any effort in it(neither has 90% of NCAA).
However, UGA’s opponents have only hit 9 HR so far, while our opponents have hit 14.
They have always have been a sleeping giant in Baseball, they just never put any effort in it(neither has 90% of NCAA).
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What do you mean, no effort. They hired Polk 1.5….
Foley Field is a launching pad and Wes builds his lineup for that stadium. They don't hit as many home runs when they travel.
I see it as a combination of 2 things:
1) Horrible schedule. UGA has the #251 schedule thus far. Haven’t played a good team yet, and still have 3 losses.
2) Modern baseball recruiting and analytics.
My guess is they won’t keep up that pace in SEC play….home or away.
1) Horrible schedule. UGA has the #251 schedule thus far. Haven’t played a good team yet, and still have 3 losses.
2) Modern baseball recruiting and analytics.
My guess is they won’t keep up that pace in SEC play….home or away.
The game has changed a lot.
Hunter Hines - the career all-time HR leader at MSU - wasn’t even Top 20 in the SEC in home runs his senior season. UGA has certainly leaned into that, but they still don’t seem to be very good. Losses to Wright State, Troy, and Samford already.
UGA left field line is 350'. Ours is 329'. Our RF line is 305'. The Dude is one of the smallest parks in the SEC. Power alleys are 350' (used to be 375', but Cohen brought the fences in to give his small ball team a better chance to hit HRs. Big long ball hitting teams were going to get theirs regardless of where the fences were). So it helped us close the HR gap.
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The alleys are absolutely not 350’, and never have been. That’s absurd. They are 376’ and 374’ according to pretty much every source there is.
Cohen brought the alleys in a little bit (not 25 f-ing feet, but a little bit) when he first took over in 2009 and the dead bat era was still alive and well. But the new Dude was built to the previous original dimensions in the alleys. Only major change was the short porch in RF, which still requires more lift to get out due to the wall height.
Arkansas is definitely not a big park, neither is Tenn. Missouri may have the biggest park in the SEC with 340' down each line and 400' to dead center. And while the SEC doesn't talk about it, I think several years ago they brought in their fences by a small amount. It used to be Hoover was a huge park and very few HRs were hit during the tourney....seemed there were a lot of long outs right at the warning track. And just a few years ago, the tourney started producing boo coo Hrs. Of course, the ball itself and the bats have changed back and forth which can effect HR production too.
With the unreal amount of high school baseball talent in Georgia, UGA should be a top 10 team every year.
This is completely false. The Dude is a larger park (by sq footage) than 8 other SEC stadiums, including Georgia’s Foley Field. We’re middle of the pack in terms of field size in the SEC.
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You can see the 350' printed on the wall where it starts to flatten out right in front of the lofts. Cohen personally told me that they indeed brought the fences in. Why did he tell me that?.....because I asked him about it. The CF is about 385/390'. I think the true power alley is closer to 355/360' which is not very big at all. If I had to build a college field, I would have 350' down both lines, 390' power alleys, and a 410' straight away CF and a legit 10-12' fence All the way around. I think we have way too many HRs hit that used to be fly-outs or pop ups. A HR should really mean something and be legit in every way.
Some truth in that. The reason fields are not built big or are reduced is because fans prefer to see a lot of HRs hit. I personally don't. I prefer a good pitching game from both pitchers. 2-1, 5-3, etc. type scoring. Nothing better than a big time pitching dual.
You can certainly see the 350 printed on the wall there. But, that’s not the alley dimension. The alley is always the midpoint along the wall from the foul pole and dead center. That’s not the midpoint.
Circled below in red is what you’re seeing. Circled in blue is a dimension that’s the actual alley distance, or closer to it. Its 374 and 376. Always has been. @MStateDawg also shows this pretty clearly with his attached photos in the post above.
I prefer to see lots of wins. I don't care how.
More goes into it than the size of the park. Typical weather conditions and the orientation of the field relative to prevailing winds can make a park play shorter. Foley has for years been considered a launching pad. I really don't care if they hit more HR as long as we win.
This is probably simplistic, but to me it seems like if you consider yourself a top tier program, you should want your field to play as close as possible to the way Omaha plays. Building a team for a uniquely short left or right field (FSU?) or whatever seems like a good gimmick if you need the help getting into the post season with a good seed, but otherwise seems like you want a team used to playing conditions like Omaha. You don't want to get to Omaha and it be obvious you have warning track power there after feasting on home runs all year.