We’ve all heard the anecdotes about how the ball carries farther on warm days at AT&T Park. Now, we actually have some proof.
Using a data set that spans the Giants’ entire tenure at AT&T, the fine folks at Looker have helped us put together a number of visuals, showing just how significant the affect of temperature has on hitting both in San Francisco, and throughout Major League Baseball.
As many have posited, the data confirms that hitting effectiveness, both generally and for power, increases across the board throughout the league when the temperature is warmer. Here’s a look at how both batting average and slugging percentage are impacted at AT&T Park.
For the Giants, standard batting average increases by .27 (.251 to .278) on days/nights that are warm (75+ degrees) as opposed to those that are cold (55- degrees). The gap is even more pronounced when you look at both teams, with a difference of .30 since the opening of AT&T Park.
A look at an even larger data set, all major league games played for the last 18 years, shows the affect of temperature in an even more detailed fashion.
The same is true for slugging percentage, which also improves across the board in all of the scenarios detailed above. For the Giants, their slugging percentage increases .52 points (.375 to .427) on warm days as opposed to cold days at AT&T, and .64 points for everybody.
The same goes for all of Major League Baseball
The data confirms that when people talk about a warm afternoon at AT&T being primed for an offensive breakout, they’re not just blowing hot air. With the Giants currently having scored the third fewest runs in the majors in 2018, and coming off a season where they scored the second fewest, San Francisco fans should be rooting for an extended heat wave to help the team get back on track. Of course, it’ll likely help their opponents as well…
All data and graphs in this piece were provided by Looker. Looker helps bring better insights and data-driven decisions to every business. To learn more about their product and platform, click here.
