Leftfield Triples?

[Tbadder]

Ever since I was a kid my favorite hit was the Robin Yount triple. I loved looking at that long stride, he'd bury his chin in his chest, and made that perfect compass-like arc from 1st to 3rd. My questions is, what percentage of triples are hit to leftfield? Rickie hit his 2nd or 3rd leftfield triple tonight. Isn't that pretty unusual? Where would I find such information? Thanks in advance for any advice/thoughts.

[jazzytrav]

I think there has to be a distinction made, though. Don't some parks have some areas in the left-center gap that are very triples-friendly? I imagine what you're talking about is the down-the-line variety?

[owbc]

Speaking of Robin Yount, he helped to design the outfield dimensions for Miller Park and one of the things he pushed for was for deep outfield corners so there would be lots of opportunities for triples. I believe he also wanted CF to be farther back but it wasn't possible due to design constraints.

[sbrylski]

The source doesn't give the actual percentages, but here's a nice graphic:

 

http://stat.wharton.upenn.edu/~stjensen/research/safe/safe.densities.jpg

 

Very, very few of all triples are hit to left field.

[Tbadder]

Holy cow! If Rickie can manage another 3 or 4 leftfield triples, that's gotta be some big-time, all-time anamoly. Not saying it means any thing, but it sure is a fun fact. Thanks for the graphs!

 

And Jazzman--yeah I meant down the line triples, but still that graph is pretty conclusive.

[jazzytrav]

I love how there's a tiny little circle down the line in left where ideally the ball takes a wicked bounce off the side wall. That little circle is so cute over there http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[owbc]

Wow!

 

I think Miller Park's dimensions help him out. The left field corner is 344 ft away from home plate, and as far as I can tell, that is the 4th deepest LF corner in MLB. Only Wrigley (355 ft), Coors (347 ft), and Comerica (345 ft) are deeper.

[zzzmanwitz]

Those may be some of the coolest diagrams I've ever seen. Thanks!