How to Catch a Home Run Ball This MLB Season
If you dig the long ball, and seemingly everyone who enjoys baseball (except maybe pitchers) does, it’s a good time to be an MLB fan.
Every season it seems that more and more baseballs are flying out of the park, and more and more players are trying to shape their game around hitting downtowners.
Two rookie phenoms, Los Angeles Dodgers’ first baseman/outfielder Cody Bellinger and New York Yankees’ rightfielder Aaron Judge, are currently leading the league in dingers and neither seem to be slowing down.
Not only does the spike in home runs produce a more exciting game, it also provides fans with more opportunities to catch a tater in the bleachers, and you don’t have to be Zack Hample to do it.
If you are a homer-happy fan trying to snag a souvenir, SeatGeek has got you covered. Using ESPN’s Home Run Tracker, we’ve put together our own Home Run Value Guide which helps improve your odds of catching a home run–for the best price.
For example, at Citi Field–the home of the New York Mets–fans sitting in section 136 saw 15 homers soar into their section over the left field wall. At Yankee Stadium, fans sitting in the building’s infamous short porch in the right field had the best bang-for-their-home-run-buck last year.
Another approach to take is to look at the starting pitchers’ home run rates. The more homers a pitcher tends to give up, the better chance you have of seeing one land in your mitt.
Reds’ pitcher Bronson Arroyo currently owns the dubious honor of having the worst HR/9 (home runs given up per nine innings pitched) in the league. The former Red Sox is averaging nearly three homers per nine innings. Right behind Arroyo is New York Yankees’ starter Masahiro Tanaka. After a stellar 2016, Tanaka is struggling. On the bright side for Yankees’ fans, he’s providing them with a lot of memorabilia.
If you’re looking to head to Citi Field to catch a homer, your best chance would be to settle in left field for a Matt Harvey start. After struggling with injuries, the former ace is serving up the sixth most homers per nine innings in the league.
Knowing these kind of stats may not guarantee you a ball, but it does give you an inside edge over the other fans trying to get their hands on one.
Check out SeatGeek’s home run guide here; view MLB tickets here.