Former Colorado Rockies outfielder Preston Wilson on playing in Coors Field

Playing in Coors Field is a different animal for a lot of players, especially if they have played elsewhere. Combine that with the pitching atmosphere of the early- to mid-2000s and you had something that took a bit of an adjustment for some players.

Former Colorado Rockies outfielder Preston Wilson, who played for the team from 2003 through 2005, was a guest on MLB Network Radio’s “Power Alley” with former Arizona Diamondbacks broadcaster Mike Ferrin and former New York Mets GM Jim Duquette on Monday and Wilson spoke about how playing in Coors Field was a bit different for him.

Former Colorado Rockies outfielder Preston Wilson said that Coors Field was “more forgiving” for hitters

Former Colorado Rockies outfielder Preston Wilson said that, for hitting, Coors Field was “more forgiving” than some other stadiums he called home.

“The one thing that you had, like when you were playing in Shea Stadium (the former home of the New York Mets, where Wilson called home to begin his MLB career) or Marlins Park, you could not miss,” said Wilson. “A guy with power couldn’t miss and still hit the ball out of the ballpark in certain parts of the field. You had to get it and get all of it.

“In Colorado, (Coors Field) was a little bit more forgiving. You pick the pitch or you pick an area that you want to attack and you knew if you laced it up, it was going to go. It was going to leave the ballpark or, at least, it was going to get into the gap somehow.”

When Wilson joined the Rockies at the start of the 2003 season, he was coming off of a season where he hit .243/.329/.429 with the Florida Marlins with 22 doubles, 23 homers, and 65 RBI.

In his first season with the Rockies, he hit .282/.343/.537 with 43 doubles, 36 homers, and an NL-leading 141 RBI. As a result, that was the only time he was an All-Star in his 10-year career and the only time he got MVP votes, as he came in 16th in NL MVP voting.

He only played in 58 games in 2004 due to injury and the Rockies traded him to the Washington Nationals in 2005.

As his numbers indicate, though, it wasn’t just home runs that increased in his first season with the Rockies. It was the extra-base hits, in general.

“I think the biggest thing that helped me in Colorado is that the outfielders had to play so deep,” said Wilson. “Your average picked up not (just) because of the homers but your average picked up because of the ones that fell in front of the outfielders and behind the infielders … There were some balls in Colorado that I hit that, on a good day when it was nice and clear in Colorado, that you’d go “Wow, that’s really far! Like did I hit that?! Like that’s really far!”

Especially in the mid-2000s, that happened with a lot of players that were with the Rockies, despite them putting the humidor in Coors Field before the start of the 2002 season.