From Shea to Citi: Expect Higher Power Numbers

I have been going to games at Shea stadium for many years and have seen many things. I have seen postseason shutouts, grand slam singles, botched calls, an empty-gloved Steve Finley, an acrobatic Endy Chavez, and many more. Aside from these great moments, I have picked up on the tendencies of Shea as well. It is not an easy task to hit a ball out of the park at Shea. Ask Mike Piazza, the dominant righty batter how many fly balls he tagged that just died in left field.

Next year is the opening of Citi Field. A person who strives in mathematics may infer that the dimensions of the two fields are nearly similar and all the dimensions differ by no more than ten feet. That is true, but the main reason, in my opinion, that Shea was a pitcher's ballpark is because of the gruesome wind coming through the old picnic area where the left field bleachers were . In Citi Field, there are large walls and many predict the wind will not be nearly as much a factor as it was at Shea.

That being said, lets browse the power numbers. First, lets take a glance over at the division rivals, The Philadelphia Phillies. Sure, Ryan Howard is a powerful slugger who when hot can rip the ball out of any ballpark, but in Philadelphia many home runs to left field would be flyouts anywhere else. There is a reason Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran have the Mets home run records at only 41 a piece.

Looking back on how some of the Met players of current have been doing in a pitchers ballpark, I expect certain players numbers to improve.

The 1 player I expect to improve home runs is David Wright. Wright seems to be holding to a consistent year: 30-33 home runs, 120ish RBI, .300 ish average, a fair share of stolen bases (Very rarely getting caught) and some gold gloves on the side.

I predict, since David Wright is a powerful righty bat that some of his flyouts in Shea will now be home runs. David is a work-ethic monster who strives on building off success and thus exceeding his confidence. Once he realizes he can knock the ball out to left, he will not look back.

Not solely because I am a Met fan, but in fantasy baseball I would pick David Wright around the 2-3 range overall. He is less an injury threat than Albert Pujols, he is young, and his numbers are generally consistent. Also, the Yahoo end of season rankings but Wright in the top three overall including pitchers.

Here are my bold offensive predictions for David Wright in 2009, barring no injury:

.309 BA 37 HR 129 RBI

Also, expect more home runs from Beltran from the right side.

As sad as I am to see Shea go, look forward to a more exciting offensive statistics year for our powerful lineup and also look forward to David Wright being the 2009 National League MVP.

Read The Full Article:
http://www.ddmetsfanblog.com/2008/11/from-shea-to-citi-expect-higher-power.html

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