Marlins manager Don Mattingly: Ballpark ‘more fair’ to hitters with fences moved in
Count Miami Marlins manager Don Mattingly as a supporter of the club moving in the outfield walls at Marlins Park.
Straightaway center field is now 400 feet from home plate instead of 407 feet, while right-center field is 387 feet instead of 399 feet. It’s the second time since the ballpark opened in 2012 that the outfield dimensions have changed.
And it should be a benefit for hitters — the Marlins and otherwise.
There were 173 total home runs hit at Marlins Park last season, the third fewest in MLB ahead of only Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium (162) and San Francisco’s Oracle Park (161).
“It’s bringing it in a little bit for us, but it’s bringing it in a little bit for everybody,” Mattingly said. “The way the ball flew last year, it didn’t matter. We’ll see how the ball’s flying this year. I think it makes it fair. I think that’s the biggest thing.
“I look at our ballpark, and there were parts of it that seemed almost unfair to the offensive player. That’s what you want — you want it to be fair. It’s still a pitcher’s ballpark, it’s going to be a pitcher’s ballpark, but it’s more fair now when you crush a ball that it’s going to go.”
It was one of several big-picture topics Mattingly discussed Saturday at the team’s annual FanFest, a prelude to spring training.
Among the other topics:
▪ On watching the offseason unfold and seeing the new players being signed to the team: “It’s good. You spend time talking about it. [Marlins president of baseball operations] Mike Hill and the development staff, analytics, Derek [Jeter], those guys are doing all the grunt work in the winter, studying players, finding the right guys, finding the pieces that will fit for us right now and aren’t in the way of what we have coming. That’s a little dual-edged sword. You need to make sure you’re bringing the right guys in because you don’t want a Monte Harrison tearing it up [in the minor leagues] and not having a place for it. You don’t want Jazz [Chisholm] tearing it up with nowhere to go. ...
“It’s a tough thing to build it properly, and I think that’s what has been impressive about everything our ownership has done from the beginning. Build the system and when we get to that point that we’re there, start adding pieces. Then, you’re sustainable because you’re minor league is full and you can’t stop. It’s going to have to be all the time. You have to continue to draft well, continue to make smart trades, continue to build this thing with international trades. It has to be continued on in a place like Miami.”
▪ On the MLB sign-stealing controversy that has led to drama with the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox: “We’re all within this industry, so we don’t want to see it tarnished or tainted in any way. I think the commissioner’s office did a great job of like bringing everything to the forefront. Now the ramifications have came out. Hopefully it’s something that we’ve moved forward from. ... You could see it kind of coming, honestly, with the technology, with the cameras, just how fast that has come to the forefront with everything you can do with replay. You could actually see how it could, how something could start to happen. Unfortunately, it did. Now we move forward.”
▪ If he was surprised about Jeter, former New York Yankees star shortstop and current Marlins CEO, not being unanimously selected into the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame: “Honestly, yes. You know, it doesn’t matter. From my viewpoint, it doesn’t really matter. But I’m thinking to myself, ‘I don’t know how you could look at anything in his career and say it’s not Hall of Fame.’ So I’ll leave it at that.”
This and that
▪ Hill said everyone is expected to be medically cleared to start spring training. That includes reliever Drew Steckenrider, whose 2019 season ended on May 6 due to a flexor strain in his right shoulder.
▪ Brian Anderson, who has maneuvered between third base and right field the last two seasons, said he anticipates playing primarily third base during spring training due to the Marlins’ overflow of outfielders coming to Jupiter.
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