[BirdWatcher]

WPK Ballpark Factors, revisited.

So I've taken a look at the ballparks of the Shoeless Joe League.
And the first thing I learn is that Brewers Field is indeed an outlier in the WPK with its seating capacity of 42,200. The average seating capacity of SJL ballparks is 22,760. The two largest parks (in terms of seating, anyway) are the Ballpark of Philadelphia (Philadelphia Mud Hens) at 26,900 and El Paso Grounds (El Paso Dawgs) at 26,700.
While no SJL park is quite as small as Los Angeles Grounds (17,700), there are two that are close, at 17,900 each. Interestingly, one of those is the Ballpark of Columbus where the current WPK champs (and the team with this year's best record thus far) the Columbus Whalers play. The other is where 2-time WPK champs Jacksonville Wolf Pack play (Wolf Pack Stadium).

I was not surprised to find that the SJL overall has parks that are more favorable to hitters than those in the MGL. While the MGL overall BA ballpark effect is 1.0068, the SJL is 1.0244. Hitting doubles should be a bit easier for an SJL batter as the ballparks combined average 1.0046 in that category, whereas the MGL is .9942. The MGL has a slight advantage in terms of triples: 1.006 compared to an even 1.000 in the SJL. But the SJL is a league slightly more conducive to HR's as the ballpark factors average out to 1.0223 while the MGL is 1.0036.

A few SJL hitter's parks:
Jacksonville is the best place in the SJL to hit for a high average (1.078), and especially favors right handed batters (1.085, tied with El Paso for highest). Lefties don't have it too bad either, though, as the park is third highest in the league at 1.065. The park is also second highest for doubles (1.074), 3rd for triples (1.060) though it is pretty much middle of the pack for HR's (1.009).
El Paso is a good park to hit for power and average though it suppresses other extra-base hits to a great extent. It is second for BA (1.075) and as mentioned above, like Jacksonville particularly favors right handed batters. It is the most HR friendly park at 1.125, which places it ahead of Brewers Field as the best place to hit the long ball. (Denver is second overall in the WPK.) and is very good in that category for both right handed batters (1.135, 1st in SJL) and left handed batters (1.105, 2nd in SJL).

Alligators Park, where the Seattle ballclub plays, is pretty much the mirror image of El Paso. Seattle is the worst place to hit for a high batting average in the SJL (and 2nd worst to the MGL's Baltimore park) at .945, though it is certainly a bit more forgiving to left handed batters (1.015, 6th best) than righties (.945, worst in SJL, tied with OKC for worst overall). Seattle is also a very tough place to hit HR's at .940 (only Charlotte and Phoenix in the MGL are worse) and is the absolutely worst place for right handed batters to hit HR's in all of the WPK (.905). On the other hand, Seattle is the ballpark that is most likely to inflate the number of doubles and triples (1.104, 1st in SJL in doubles, 1.100, 1st in SJL in triples and best in all of the WPK in this category)

Another SJL ballpark that should be pretty pitcher friendly is San Antonio's Keys Ballpark. This park is next to last in overall BA factor (.985), 8th in the SJL in HR factor (1.002), 9th in doubles (.922), and 7th in triples (.940).

Among SJL ballparks with interesting handedness splits is the Ballpark of Columbus (Columbus Whalers). While this park profiles as being overall hitter friendly, it is far better for lefties than righties. It is first in the SJL for lefties in BA (1.190) but 9th for righties (.980). It is second overall for HR's at 1.067 but while it is first for lefties at 1.1902, it is just 7th for righties at 1.000. (It is also middle of the pack in terms of doubles and triples.)

Right handed hitters fleeing Columbus may want to sign on with Philadelphia. Their ballpark is 4th overall for batting average but a solid third for righties at 1.045 and is favorable for HR's, 2nd in the SJL at 1.045. (Though, to be fair, this park is equal in HR favorability for batters from both sides of the plate.) (Like Columbus, Philly is not a great place for hitting doubles and triples.)

At this stage of the WPK's development, every park in the league is of the open air variety with grass playing surfaces. Though one wonders if a few of these teams might not be contemplating building new stadiums that might creatively help them mitigate extreme weather conditions (thinking in particular of Phoenix and Milwaukee here, but the trick is that we are about 20 years too early for retractable roofs at this point.)