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AAA Park Factors

There is an incredibly interesting article up at Baseball America that provides some
Triple A Park Factors. With some of the best prospects in baseball residing at AAA, fantasy players can use these to help interpret what a player's minor league production means when he is recalled.  I have previously touched on this when discussing the Nationals' Larry Broadway.

Keep an eye on him as his AAA numbers make him easy to forget - 15 HRs in AAA.  The Zephyrs home stadium was one of the worst in the minors for HRs.  This doesn't mean Broadway will come to RFK and begin launching bombs, but it may mean that Broadway will not see a drop in power.

The Angels' Brandon Wood is in Salt Lake (pf=138) versus Houston's Hunter Pence in Round Rock (pf=94).  Carlos Gomez of the Mets may not show any increase in power at New Orleans (pf=62).  Simply matching his AA power may suffice.

Not that Baltimore has anyone of concern at Norfolk (pf=52), but don't be surprised to see a member of that team's 2006 club, the Mets Lastings Milledge, do better than his 2006 numbers would indicate.  

Just as hitters' numbers may be inflated (or deflated) depending on their park, expect the opposite to occur for pitchers.  The Orioles will certainly recall SP Hayden Penn, and, if the park factor for Norfolk holds, then Penn is likely to have very good AAA numbers.  These are likely to lead to an inflated FAAB bid or a rush to cliam him off the waiver wire.

While park factors provide an additional tool for the fantasy projection toolbox, do not take these park factors as gospel though, as author Matt Eddy explains.

All figures presented here pertain to the 2006 season only, so any number of things--stronger-than-usual offense, worse pitching, differences in weather, altered dimensions--might have skewed the numbers. Consider these factors to be rough sketches.