Camden 2.0 greeted with curses and tossed bats

At least Baltimore pitchers seem to love big new wall

Austin Hays knew his old office was getting a revamp. The left-field wall at Camden Yards — his turf — was moving back nearly 30 feet, its height raised by nearly 13 feet. But nothing could prepare the Baltimore Orioles left-fielder for the sinking feeling when he saw the stadium’s mini-monster for the first time, and the first month worth of anecdotal data that confirmed his new reality.

“It’s exactly what I thought it would be, from the time I stepped on the field and saw how far away it was,” says Hays, a fourth-year outfielder whose career-best 22 homers last year were significantly dependent on the cosier dimensions. “It’s playing exactly how I thought it would to left field. “Very big. Very far away.”

And it’s arguably the most transformational alteration to a ballpark in the 30 years since Camden Yards’ 1992 opening heralded a new era of cosier stadiums. They’re celebrating the anniversary off the field with special ticket prices and remembrances of the stadium’s greatest moments throughout the park.

On the field, Camden 2.0 has been accompanied by curses and tossed bats.

“There’s a lot of, ‘That was a homer last year,’ ” says Orioles catcher Anthony Bemboom, who often plays park therapist to opposing hitters in the box.

They have reason to grieve: Going yard at Camden Yards has done a 180 from a hitter’s haven to a home run hellscape. The data’s daunting enough:

Camden Yards ranks 27th in the major leagues in home runs as measured by park factor, at 0.677, well below the neutral rate of 1.000, with anything greater favouring hitters and anything less than that favouring pitchers.

One year ago, it ranked No. 1 at 1.574, a 25 per cent leap from the runner-up, Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark, which takes over the No. 1 spot this year.

The Orioles received permission from MLB to move the left-field wall back, and up, on the heels of a highly deliberate rebuilding that saw Orioles pitching get pummeled. It was a pragmatic move by general manager Mike Elias given that the mid-market Orioles might never afford the sort of sluggers expected to scale that wall with regularity, unless they manage to develop a bevy of right-handed Aaron Judge clones.

“It’s a travesty, man,” Yankees slugger Judge said during this week’s series in Baltimore. “I’m pretty upset. It looks like a CreateA-Park now.”

In year one of this grand experiment, a couple of other things happened. Leaguewide, the ball began performing like an anvil, adding another offensive suppressant. And, in a chicken-or-the-egg scenario, Orioles pitchers took another step forward in development.

“It definitely gives you a lot more confidence,” Orioles lefty starter Bruce Zimmermann says of the new dimensions.

“There’s really no other way to put it.”

Baltimore now ranks 18th in the majors with a 3.81 ERA; better yet, the adjusted ERA of 101 places them right at league average, and ahead of such pitching-centric clubs as Tampa Bay and Seattle.

And it took until the fourth inning of Thursday’s 9-6 win over the New York Yankees — in the Orioles’ 39th game of the season — for an opposing hitter to clear the left-field wall for a home run: Giancarlo Stanton, with a 392-foot drive that sailed above the foul pole, two innings after the new wall reduced his 386foot drive to a hard single.