Marlins to move in fences, lower walls in search of offensive boost

Marc Lancaster

Marlins to move in fences, lower walls in search of offensive boost image

Get ready for The House That Giancarlo Renovated.

Team president David Samson said Tuesday that the fences at Marlins Park will be moved in before next season. Not that Giancarlo Stanton had that much trouble reaching them before.

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Hitters have grumbled about the dimensions and wall height at the ballpark since it opened in 2012. It's especially spacious up the middle, with the walls at 386 feet in left-center, 418 feet in center field and 392 feet in right-center. The fence is 15 feet high in center field, sloping down to 10 feet on either side.

Home run totals have consistently been lower at Marlins Park than elsewhere around the majors. According to data compiled by ESPN, there were 1.37 homers per game in Miami in 2015, second-fewest in the majors to 1.35 at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

That followed seasons of 1.28 home runs per game in 2014, a stunning 1.04 in 2013 and 1.40 in 2012.

Conventional wisdom also holds that offense attracts fans, and the Marlins could use some help in that department, too. They were 28th in the majors in attendance this year with an average of 21,632 per game, their third consecutive season in the bottom four in MLB after the initial boost in interest from the new ballpark in 2012.

Closer fences and shorter walls won't come close to solving all of the Marlins' problems, but they might help create a different dynamic at the stadium, and that wouldn't be a bad thing for a team that hasn't finished with a winning record since 2009.

Marc Lancaster

Marc Lancaster Photo

Marc Lancaster joined The Sporting News in 2022 after working closely with TSN for five years as an editor for the company now known as Stats Perform. He previously worked as an editor at The Washington Times, AOL’s FanHouse.com and the old CNNSportsIllustrated.com, and as a beat writer covering the Tampa Bay Rays, Cincinnati Reds, and University of Georgia football and women’s basketball. A Georgia graduate, he has been a Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2013.