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?

Let’s start with the current dimensions:

Left Field – 347 feet (106 m)
Left-Center – 390 feet (119 m)
Center Field – 415 feet (126 m)
Right-Center – 375 feet (114 m)
Right Field – 350 feet (107 m)
Backstop – 56 feet (17 m)

The Rockies have only made one change to the dominions in their 24 seasons of Coors Field but they’ve thought about a few others. Mainly, that’s a plan which owner Dick Monfort has publicly acknowledged he has considered and declined. That plan included moving home plate out, keeping the fences where they are but their dimensions would shrink while raising their height. This would increase the very limited foul territory, take away singles due to the less space in the outfield and turn some home runs into doubles.

The biggest thing that turns Coors Field into an offensive haven isn’t the propensity for the home run ball but rather the amount of bloopers and flares that fall ion for hits. This is why there is no park that has a higher BABIP (batting average on balls in play) than Coors.

So here are three ideas I have to radicalize Coors Field, some for the better, some for the whacky some for the worse (depending on which position you fancy.

No.1, let’s start with a simple one that’s actually realistic.

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Moving in the left field corner.

In a spot where the Rockies have already toyed with in the adjustment they made prior to the 2016 season, they could make their ballpark both more gimmicky, add a nice feature and improve some seating in the process.

In the left field corner where the the tunnel is, it might be a cool idea to bring the foul pole in about 20 feet. Note the big league minimum for a corner is 325 so it could be no less than that but I think 327 would suffice just fine if you raise the barrier as well.

On this left field line foul pole plateau you could add a really nice bar or market. It would probably look odd if it was higher than the 16-and-a-half-foot out of town scoreboard on the other side of the field though it would be a really cheap way to get home runs unless a bit higher. The way you could shape it would be similar to the right field foul pole that juts out then angles quickly back on but with a larger jut to hold the patrons. This wouldn’t change Coors Field all that much as it would be a 20 foot cut into the corner that quickly retreats over about 20 feet. This would also nicely match the angle that the stands take as they come closer to the line the closer they get to the outfield wall from the dugouts.

This would allow the Rockies a premium spot to put a new vendor and add a another great option to a spot in the park that already has Famous Daves.

The downsides to this plan on the field are just cheap offense, albeit for a brief spot. Off the field, the Rockies would lose about a section and a half worth of seating as the first bleachers would have to be at the very least rearranged and the last section down the third base line would end up being obstructed by your new feature.

The other thing that makes this plan hard is the tunnel down the left field line that is needed to connect Coors Field to the street for machines, parades and other events. I think if you made this platform that hosted this area a metal bridge-like-structure, you might be able to pull it off. What would be interesting is that the outfield wall would either need to be added, padded, or come down like a garage door or something on a daily bases. So long as the vehicles used aren’t higher than 13 or so feet it should work out fine.

In short it would be some combination of the Green Monster, Pesky’s Pole and the bars the Cardinals have down by their foul pole.

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.