In the aftermath of pitching the Orioles’ first complete game no-hitter in more than 50 years, left-hander John Means expressed gratitude that the feat came on the road, given that Kyle Lewis’ eighth-inning drive was caught at the left-field wall of the Seattle Mariners’ T-Mobile Park instead of sailing over the fence for a home run.
“If this was Camden Yards, it was gone,” Means said then. “I’m glad we’re in Seattle.”
The Orioles hope their pitchers feel that way less often going forward. The club told The Baltimore Sun it began construction this week to alter Oriole Park at Camden Yards’ left-field dimensions to try to reduce the stadium’s propensity for home runs. The changes — the first to the size of the iconic ballpark’s playing area in two decades — will raise the wall’s height from 7 feet to about 12 feet and move it back as much as 30 feet, according to information provided by the team. Major League Baseball approved the adjustments, which will cover the area from the left-field corner to the bullpens in the left-center field.
The new measurements fall in line with other major league parks. As of 2020, Camden Yards’ 333-foot distance from home plate to the left-field corner was about average for the 30 major league stadiums, though its 364-foot distance to left-center was one of the league’s most reachable for batters. Oriole Park was one of only eight ballparks with a wall shorter than 8 feet in left and had the shortest wall in left-center field of any venue. A 12-foot left-field wall would be tied for the sixth-tallest in the majors.
Construction is expected to be complete by Opening Day, which is scheduled for March 31 but subject to change with MLB’s owners locking out the players as the sides slowly work toward a new collective bargaining agreement.
The Orioles’ baseball operations and analytics departments, led by executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias and assistant general manager for analytics Sig Mejdal, have been working to find a way to make the stadium more balanced for pitchers and hitters and determined the changes to left field would best allow for that outcome, with moving back home plate also among the considerations. The team also sought to ensure the alterations won’t create an imbalance between right- and left-handed hitters. In Oriole Park’s previous dimensions, the right-field corner was 15 feet closer to home plate than the left-field corner, but right field features a 21-foot-tall wall that stretches 100 feet toward right-center. The center-field wall, measured 400 feet away from home plate, will stay 7 feet tall.