Giants: Details on Oracle Park’s new outfield dimensions

Details on the San Francisco Giants plans to move in the outfield walls at Oracle Park have surfaced.

The San Francisco Giants are moving forward with the long-awaited moving of Oracle Park’s outfield walls this offseason.

Though the plans had been in the works for some time, we now have details on how exactly the outfield dimensions will change in 2020.

Here’s a breakdown from Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle:

That is good news for the fans the have been longing to see more home runs at Oracle Park, especially if they alter the cavernous 421-foot right center field gap known as “Triples Alley,” right?

With just a six-foot reduction, from 421 to 415 feet, Giants fans hoping that the new dimensions would help the team’s long-embattled hitters slug more home runs may be disappointed to see just as many baseball die in the cavernous gap.

To get a better visual idea of what the new outfield will look like, here’s a rough sketch, courtesy of Ben Kaspick of Locked On Giants:

Looking at the 2019 data for left-handed hitter Brandon Belt, the reduction in the size of the alley will likely not change much in way of his power numbers, according to MLB.com’s hit tracker.

If the adjustments to the outfield had come prior to the 2019 season, they may have added two additional home runs to the 17 he hit last season.

However, fans looking at the same chart may notice that many of Belt’s fly balls to straight away center field could now find their way into the Oracle Park Garden, or bullpens as the case may be next season.

The eight-foot reduction to straightaway center to make it just 391 feet to the wall will make center field a new target for power hitters.

It will be fun to watch during the early part of the 2020 season to see just how much these changes will impact hitting and defensive alignment in the Oracle Park outfield.