Over at Baseball America, Matt Eddy released the latest batch of minor league park factors, which measure the frequency of events at a ballpark for batters and pitchers who play there and elsewhere. A 100 park factor is league average, and every point above or below means that the given category was observed a percentage point more or less at that ballpark over the selected time period.
In this case, Eddy is using the last two years, and once again the data show why the White Sox might be tempted to push pitchers straight to Chicago from Double-A.
Charlotte: By far the friendliest home run park in Triple-A (157), both to righties (146) and especially lefties (172).
Birmingham: Plays like an average park in terms of overall production (100 wOBA), but Edgar Quero was correct that it's a lot harder to hit a homer at Regions Field (81) than his previous Double-A home in Rocket City (21).
Winston-Salem: Now tilts ever so slightly in favor of the pitcher (96 wOBA), and homers aren't flying out of there the way they used to (80), even though the right field corner appears tiny when somebody hits it just in the right spot.
Kannapolis: Winston-Salem's counterpart in helping hitters just a touch (104 wOBA), at least righties, who rack up more triples (211) and homers (112) relative to the rest of the league. It's not quite as power-friendly to lefties (93 for triples, 95 for homers)
Birmingham 6, Tennessee 3
- Terrell Tatum went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.
- Jacob Gonzalez was 1-for-3 with a walk, HBP and a strikeout.
- Brooks Baldwin was 1-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Edgar Quero went 3-for-4 with a homer and a walk.
- Tim Elko struck out thrice during an 0-for-5 night.
- Wilfred Veras, 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Jacob Burke walked once and struck out thrice.
- Ky Bush recovered well from a three-run first: 7 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, 60 of 92 pitches for strikes.
Kannapolis 5, Fredericksburg 0
- Rikuu Nishida singled twice, walked once and struck out twice.
- Ronny Hernandez went 2-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout.
- Ryan Burrowes singled, walked, got plunked and struck out twice.
- George Wolkow made his A-ball debut, going 1-for-5 with three strikeouts.
ACL Royals 6, ACL White Sox 4
- Javier Mogollon went 1-for-4 with a homer, walk, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
- Abraham Nunez was 0-for-4 with a walk, two strikeouts and a stolen base.
DSL Arizona Red 6, DSL White Sox 5
- Christian Gonzalez went 4-for-5.
- Jurdrick Profar went 1-for-4 with a walk.
- Eduardo Herrera, 1-for-5.
- Jesus Premoli was 3-for-5 with a double.
- Jehancarlos Mendez went 1-for-4 with a double and a strikeout.
- Alvaro Rios was 2-for-4 with a strikeout.
- Orlando Suarez: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
