Tigers to alter dimensions at Comerica Park for 2023 season

Chris McCosky
The Detroit News

Detroit — Last September, in a Wednesday matinee against the Houston Astros, Riley Greene hit a ball 424 feet to center field in the eighth inning that would have been a go-ahead home run in 28 other big-league ballparks.

Alas, the ball was swallowed up in the center-field expanse, just another frustrating long out at Comerica Park.

Some Tigers players contend Comerica Park's large dimensions have deadened potential offensive numbers over the years.

“Just make it average,” catcher Eric Haase said of the park’s dimensions. “Right now, it’s leaps and bounds the most hitter-unfriendly park that there is. Just make it fair.”

Wish granted. Come next season, that same ball Greene hit last September will land 12 feet beyond the center field wall.

Tigers president Scott Harris on Wednesday announced plans to alter the dimensions at Comerica Park, bringing the fences in by 10 feet in center and lowering the wall to 7 feet from center around to the foul line in right.

It will still be the third-biggest park in baseball, still a pitcher’s park, but it should be far less demoralizing to hitters.

“It was a priority for us that our park doesn’t play exactly like every other park,” Harris said. “We feel that affords us an opportunity to build a team that’s better suited for our environment than our opponents 81 times a year. That is an advantage we shouldn’t overlook. These changes will help us achieve that goal.”

More: Henning: After too many years abusing hitters, Comerica Park to get some added fixes

Here are some of the changes that will be in place by Opening Day:

▶ The distances in right field and left field will be the same, though laser measurements showed the distance in left is actually 342 feet, not 345.

▶ Center field will be moved in from 422 feet (not 420 as it was labeled) to 412 feet.

▶ There will be a 7-foot wall around the whole outfield, except for the camera well down the line in right. The wall in right-center will drop from 13 feet to 7 and the wall in right from 8.5 feet to 7.

▶ The rebuilt wall in right will be 2 feet in front of the old wall and the railing will be pushed back, eliminating the first row of seats (removing 50 seats). There will be a buffer (plants) between the railing and the first row of seats.

▶ The rebuilt wall will be steel column-based and new, safer 3-inch foam padding will be used all the way around.

▶ The home bullpen will be redone with expanded seating and better sightlines for players.

“Player feedback is always mixed because we have pitchers and hitters,” Harris said. “Pitchers want to push the fences back and hitters want to move the fences in. We wanted to strike the right balance where we were improving the offensive conditions for our hitters without fundamentally changing the profile of the park.

“We feel we could do that with these changes.”

Harris cautioned that it will take a couple of years for the park variances to stabilize. But he expects it continue to play as a pitcher’s park. And he’s building the team accordingly.

“We plan to build a pitching staff and defense that helps us grab some value at the margins there,” he said. “We also will seek to reshape an offense that can effectively score runs in this environment. If we can do those things, we should have an advantage 81 times a year.”

Over the years, it’s been sluggers like Juan Gonzalez, Victor Martinez, Nick Castellanos and even Miguel Cabrera who have voiced their beefs with the spacious dimensions. But these changes are as much about exploiting the multiple, two-way skill-set of a player like Greene as placating sluggers.

“The wall height and Riley Greene are related,” Harris said. “He’s pretty good at robbing homers and I think a 7-foot wall will give him more opportunity to rob homers and help our pitchers out.”

In researching the project, several different options were discussed, each with an algorithm projecting home runs and other run-scoring factors.

“We also took a backwards-looking study of all the batted balls in this ballpark and what the marginal impact on home runs and runs would be if we had these new dimensions,” Harris said. “The studies suggest there will be a modest impact on home runs and run scoring without changing the profile of the park.”

In the past 22 years, run scoring at Comerica Park has been at or above league average 11 times. But in terms of home run production, it's typically been at or near the bottom. It yielded the least number of homers in the game last season.

Beside changing the dimensions, the Tigers this offseason also are adding new LED lights in the ballpark and Chris McGowan, president and CEO of Ilitch Holdings, said there were plans to add new seating products in right field.

“The biggest impact will be on the fan experience, player safety and our hitters’ psyches,” Harris said. “I think fans are going to see more exciting plays out there. Robbing homers is one of the most electric plays in baseball and the lower wall height will allow our fans to see more of that.

“The new padding and new construction of the walls will hopefully reduce the injury rate.”

But make no mistake, hitters across the league are rejoicing. Even Cabrera, who posted on his Instagram account, “Wow! Now I want to play more years (with laughing emojis).”

“We felt like too many balls that were barreled up to dead center field did not end up being extra base hits,” Harris said. “We felt like it’s very dispiriting for a hitter to barrel a ball to dead center and make a 419-foot out. If a few more of those end up being homers or extra-base hits, we think it will have a positive effect on our hitter’s psyche and ultimately a positive impact on our team.”

chris.mccosky@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @cmccosky