Colorado Rockies: How would you change Coors Field’s dimensions?

DENVER – In a game in September, Colorado Rockies legend Matt Holliday smoked a ball opposite field that would’ve ended up tying the game on a ball that landed in the bullpen. Instead, the ball hit the “Bridich Barrier” and, unlike his first stint in Denver, it was a double and the Rockies couldn’t plate him.

Now stories have been done on the Bridich Barrier and its impacts and if it has hurt or helped the Colorado Rockies. If you’re unfamiliar, the Rockies raised the right-center field fence from 8-feet-9-inches to 16-feet-6-inches while also taking the corner in left field and making it five feet higher at 13 feet.. The more noticeable change is the one in right due to its length from near dead center all the way to straightaway right where it meets the out of town scoreboard.

I’m of the belief that, if you look at the pitching success of the past three years and the organizational shift towards focusing on the pitchers, the barrier has only helped.

This article is not about that. This article is a brain storm and I’d love to hear your ideas as well.

My question: how could the Rockies change Coors Field’s dimensions to make it better, worse or more pinball-y?

No. 2 … This is never going to happen but the visual is terrific.

No fence in centerfield.

Okay, already acknowledged, it’s not going to happen but imagine a Matt Kemp type hits a ball 430 to dead center it bounces into the pond/fountains and Charlie Blackmon has to jump in, fish out the ball then throw a soggy ball to the cutoff man.

The Rockies might actually want to keep Chuck in center in this circumstance given that he’s an avid fisherman.

This isn’t as crazy as the initial thought though. And you could even extend this idea to not just center field but opening up the bullpens and the wall would essentially be the giant concrete slab that holds up the concourse.

At old Yankee Stadium before their renovation in the 1970s, Monument Park (the team’s museum) was in play in dead center field. As was a flagpole like the one in Houston until they recently removed their center field hill. The Rockies would essentially be playing off this idea and turning an historical park into an actual natural park. What’s more Colorado than that?

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As for the bullpens?

Think about old Polo Grounds which hosted the New York Giants and briefly the Yankees, Mets and the football Giants and Jets. Because it was originally built for Polo, upon the first construction it was shaped like a bathtub. The dimensions for this upper manhattan stadium was Left Field: 279 ft, Left-Center: 450 ft, Center Field: 483 ft, Right-Center: 449 ft and Right Field: 258 ft. What’s interesting here are the power alleys because they’re about 75 feet further than any in baseball now and it’s because the bullpens were placed deep into the power alleys and bumping back to nearly 500 feet away from the plate — all in play, mind you — in center field.

But wait there’s more.

The wall in center was 60 feet hight and included the Giants clubhouse windows which were in play.

And yet there’s still more.

The Eddie Grant Memorial Plaque, which was about 470 feet from home plate and 5 feet high in dead center was also in play. Grant was the first MLB player to die in World War I.

So when Willie Mays made that incredible catch in center at Polo Grounds, he also had to deal with all of that which is described above. You’re also probably thinking, “Say hey, did anyone ever hit one out?” And of course the answer is Babe Ruth, who once hit one an estimated 550 feet. Ruth hit 714 home runs in his career and 85 came at Polo Grounds, more than any stadium other than Yankee. What’s funniest about this is that Ruth didn’t hit a regular season home run at Polo Grounds after 1922 and played until 1935 because inter-league play didn’t exist yet.

The Rockies could push back center and make the bullpens in play and still have a pretty home run-friendly park.

No. 3 Moving home plate outward

As mentioned in the intro, Rockies ownership has actually considered this idea.

Colorado Rockies

In the day of three true outcomes taking away some balls in play by increasing foul territory and home runs would actually make the park a bit less hitter-friendly and also take away some balls in play.

It’s not a half bad idea … but there are some negatives.

The seating alignment at Coors Field has all the seats facing the pitcher’s mound. Moving home plate outward would have all the seats at the park facing halfway up the pitcher’s pathway, which is weird.

What’s weirder is what would happen to where the foul poles are placed. The right field one would be halfway out on the out-of-town-scoreboard and the left field one could be more intrusive to the new massive video board.

Given that and the dugouts and cutouts, the overall shape of the stadium would no longer match the field and that would take away some of the mystique of Coors Field.

In terms of in-game play I think this could be massively beneficial to the Rockies who are trying to pitch better at Coors Field. Though, given the past few seasons what we’ve learned is it’s not Coors Field that’s plagued the Rockies on the mound, it’s talent. Now that they have elite pitching talent, games at 20th and Blake have become all that more normal.

So how would you change the dimensions? Let us know below in the comments section.