“It’s higher to not know a lot about what issues imply.”
– David Lynch in Rolling Stone, September 1990
A couple of associates and I’ve a recurring film evening the place we take turns selecting the featured movie for the night. As a result of one pal has determined to make his picks within the “campy horror” style, final week we wound up watching Peter Jackson’s Useless Alive (sure, THAT Peter Jackson). Rotten Tomatoes describes it as a “delightfully gonzo story of a lovestruck teen and his zombified mom,” whereas Wikipedia goes with “zombie comedy splatter movie.” It offers in absurdity and surrealism and its favourite device of the commerce is faux blood. The manufacturing reportedly went by way of about 80 gallons of the stuff.
Absurdist storytelling launders its messaging by way of exaggerated extremes and by defying or subverting logic in methods steadily so morbid or darkish that they surpass tragedy and are available all the best way again round to comedy. Extremes that defy logic exist in baseball too. A very wealthy supply being gamers’ house/highway splits. I went looking out the 2024 season for essentially the most excessive variations in participant efficiency (minimal 200 plate appearances) between their house parks and highway venues throughout a wide range of offensive metrics. In my very own act of defying purpose, I don’t actually have an evidence for selecting hitters over pitchers. Possibly I’ll do pitchers sooner or later. Possibly I received’t. Who wants symmetry or stability within the universe? Anyway, I discovered the biggest disparities, and ignored the boring, anticipated ones like Rockies hitters clubbing a bunch extra homers at Coors Area, and as an alternative, locked in on the actually weird.
Sure occurrences earn their weird standing not due to their surprising nature, however moderately as a result of they take an anticipated end result to such an excessive as to really feel excessive, or a bit “on the nostril,” as an editor would possibly put it. Useless Alive depicts Lionel, a younger grownup man, nonetheless residing at house together with his mom, an overbearing sort who domineers his life. Lionel and his mom painting the usual “momma’s boy” archetype, however exaggerated to nth diploma — the movie culminates with the supercharged zombie model of Lionel’s mom inserting her son again into her womb, the place she will be able to lastly regain full management over his life.
Like an overbearing mom, sure ballparks have a powerful affect on the kind of hitter who thrives underneath their care. Some encourage energy, or want a sure handedness, whereas others look down on hitting and select as an alternative to emphasise pitching and protection. Petco Park in San Diego doesn’t favor offense basically, however it’s among the many least pleasant ballparks for lefties who hit a bunch of singles. Enter Luis Arraez, the singles hitter of all singles hitters.
The infielder/DH was traded to the Padres from the Marlins final Could 4. Like Lionel, who within the early scenes of Useless Alive meets a pleasant younger girl named Paquita and takes her on a date to the zoo, Arraez continued to do his factor for the month of Could, hitting 38 singles, in comparison with the 30 he hit in the course of the first month of the season. However then Lionel’s mom interrupts the date, will get bit by a Sumatran Rat Monkey, and chaos ensues, simply because the affect of Petco Park ultimately exerts its will on Arraez. He ended the season with a .268 common at house and a .359 common on the highway, due partly to his hitting about 20% fewer singles (71 vs. 90) and nearly 50% fewer doubles (11 vs. 21) at house in comparison with on the highway. This positioned him on the excessive finish of Petco Park’s offense dampening results, so excessive as to really feel just like the stadium stuffed Arraez inside her womb till he discovered his lesson about hitting all these singles.
Batting common is one factor, however there are different stats that you just wouldn’t essentially count on to have excessive house/highway splits; equally, you wouldn’t essentially count on a scene in the beginning of a film that depicts the principle character mowing the garden on the behest of his mom to foreshadow a momentum shift within the huge battle scene on the finish. Nonetheless, Brice Turang’s stolen base success charge was 15 factors greater at house than on the highway, which was the biggest differential amongst base stealers with at the very least 30 makes an attempt (omitting Jazz Chisholm Jr. who was round 20 share factors higher on the highway, but additionally switched house stadiums in late July). The Brewers second baseman stole 28 bases at American Household Area and was caught only one time there, whereas in away parks he stole 22 bases and was caught 5 occasions. The discrepancy turns into all of the extra notable when contemplating Turang reached base much less steadily at house, posting a .290 OBP in Milwaukee in comparison with a .341 OBP all over the place else.
There aren’t too many knowledge factors to recommend why Turang was higher at swiping baggage at house, however as a participant with simply over 1,000 huge league plate appearances, it is sensible that a few of his visible timing and positioning cues is perhaps extra locked in at AmFam than they’re elsewhere within the league. Issues like the primary base cutout within the infield grass and the sightlines behind the pitcher as he’s taking his lead from first are possible extra dialed in on the place the place Turang has taken nearly all of his reps within the majors. Utilizing considered one of his strongest instruments (94th percentile dash velocity) and the comforts of a well-known setting, Turang nearly fully compensated for his in any other case adverse contributions on offense, simply as Lionel, in defending his house from a horde of zombie partygoers, turned to a trusted device — his lawnmower and its sharp, speedy blade — to mow by way of the strolling useless.
The biggest cut up I may discover with respect to wRC+, which is already adjusted for park elements, belongs to Luis García Jr., who after a number of up and down seasons with the Nationals, spent 2024 as Washington’s main second baseman. The lefty logged a 156 wRC+ at house and a 63 wRC+ on the highway, a 93-point unfold. That is the place it’s useful to know precisely how the park adjustment is utilized to wRC+ and why which may make a reasonably impartial hitting setting like Nationals Park look like an oasis for one hitter specifically. Or, in different phrases, why a younger woman like Paquita would possibly proceed to see somebody even after his zombie mom ate her canine.
(Right here is the place I have to observe that there’s a character in Useless Alive named Scroat. Sadly, I couldn’t make a baseball analogy to Scroat as a result of I don’t bear in mind which character was Scroat, and an IMDb search by way of the film’s forged checklist doesn’t have a headshot subsequent to the actor who performed Scroat. Actually, I simply wished an opportunity to write down Scroat in a FanGraphs submit, so right here we’re. Scroat!)
Anyway, the park issue utilized to wRC+ is a single worth that captures the run setting within the stadium general, versus the extra granular element stage park elements that take into account the stadium’s affect on the person elements of offense, comparable to singles, doubles, triples, house runs, and many others. Element park elements that think about the batter’s handedness are additionally accessible. Digging into the elements of García’s house/highway splits reveals that when in D.C., he struck out much less and hit extra singles and homers. Element park elements clarify a part of why García would possibly profit extra from hitting in Washington than a mean hitter: Nats Park does suppress strikeouts relative to its friends, and left-handed hitters get a lift with respect to singles. Fewer strikeouts means extra balls in play at a ballpark the place a ball in play off the bat of a lefty is extra more likely to result in a success. Nonetheless, Washington stays impartial on house runs for these hitting from the left aspect. García’s splits with respect to batted ball traits reveal his house run-to-fly ball charge drops from 19.2% at house to six.7% on the highway. But it surely’s not simply that the ball is carrying higher as a result of, moreover, his exhausting hit charge will increase from 24.1% on the highway to 38.4% at house. That García’s strikeout charge drops 10 share factors in his house ballpark relative to all over the place else, at the side of his improved contact high quality on fly balls, appears to recommend he sees the ball higher at Nats Park than anyplace else. And for what it’s price, a particular aptitude for imaginative and prescient is what stored Lionel’s girlfriend from abandoning him, as she believed the tarot studying achieved by her seer/grandmother that foretold a fated, long-term romantic entanglement with Lionel.
Many don’t consider in destiny and as an alternative subscribe to the nihilistic view that the universe consists of randomness, which at occasions manifests as utter, uninterpretable chaos. T-Cell Park in Seattle is without doubt one of the worst ballparks for hitters, each general and throughout all particular person elements, except, by likelihood, you occur to be Luke Raley. The Mariners outfielder/first baseman defied the pure order of the universe (to the extent that there’s one) and posted a .393 wOBA, 166 wRC+, and hit 15 house runs throughout 229 plate appearances at house, with a .295 wOBA, 91 wRC+, and 7 homers over 226 PA on the highway. element elements does completely nothing to elucidate Raley’s efficiency at T-Cell Park, since as a lefty, all of Seattle’s horrible hitting juju applies much more so than it does for righties. His BABIP hovered round .300 each at house on the highway, suggesting that if there’s luck in his efficiency, it was distributed evenly at house and on the highway. By way of his batted ball profile, Raley did have the next exhausting hit charge at house, and he additionally pulled the ball extra and put it within the air extra, which collectively alerts an general greater high quality of contact. Maybe just like the tarot-reading grandmother, Raley possesses some particular sight that permits him to see the ball in a method that nobody else has mustered at T-Cell Park, or maybe, as is the messaging of a lot absurdist artwork, we should merely undergo the random, chaotic winds of the universe, blowing some fly balls over the fence and leaving others to die on the warning monitor.
No matter drive is tasked with inflicting chaos upon the lots, it appears to take pleasure in unleashing Yordan Alvarez as typically as doable. It’s true that Houston’s lefty DH/left fielder was not concerned with the Astros’ banging scheme scandal, however he however is a frequent recipient of boos at away ballparks as a consequence of his uncanny skill to launch game-winning, soul-crushing moonshots in entrance of opposing followers. Although the booing is extra of a vibes-based response, the information present that Alvarez does faucet into his energy extra steadily on the highway, hitting each doubles and residential runs at a a lot greater charge, resulting in a highway wRC+ that’s 62 factors greater than his mark at house (a highway benefit topped solely by J.P. Crawford of the Mariners).
Once more, wRC+ already accounts for the general run setting, however not the elements by which a selected participant is perhaps extra closely impacted. Houston’s ballpark, which is now known as Daikin Park, grades out as impartial to hitters general and with respect to left-handed house runs, however for doubles, a lefty hitter ought to have a neater go of it (although it’s price noting Alvarez pulls the ball at a beneath common charge for lefties). However regardless of the impartial or higher house park setting, in 2024, Alvarez hit 12 doubles and 13 homers throughout 315 plate appearances at house, whereas hitting 22 doubles and 22 homers throughout 320 plate appearances on the highway. Alvarez additionally walked barely extra on the highway, whereas holding his strikeout charge fixed, suggesting a extra affected person method that led to greater high quality contact; that is strengthened by his greater house run-to-fly ball charge (20.4% vs. 11.7%) and exhausting hit charge (46.1% vs. 36.1%) away from Houston.
As with a number of the different excessive splits, the elevated endurance and improved contact would possibly imply that Alvarez doesn’t see the ball as effectively at Daikin Park as he does elsewhere. Or this occasion of absurd house/highway splits is perhaps making an attempt to ship a distinct message. Absurdist artwork and its shut relative, surrealism, steadily serve to defy logic, or at the very least quantifiable logic. On the finish of Useless Alive, Lionel cuts his method out of his mom’s womb utilizing a talisman that Paquita’s grandmother gave him for good luck. She in all probability thought its magical properties would stop something unhealthy from taking place to him, moderately than its bodily properties permitting him to puncture zombie flesh. Even magic follows no logical order.
In the meantime, when requested to explain the expertise of taking part in in an enormous league stadium in entrance of a packed crowd in the course of the highest leverage moments of the sport, gamers steadily use the phrase surreal. And within the surreal world, there wouldn’t essentially be a logical clarification for why Alvarez turns into extra highly effective on the highway, why he occurs to be holding a talisman that may puncture the hearts of opposing followers. Possibly he feels much less stress away from the house followers. Possibly he takes a twisted pleasure in making a stadium filled with followers fall silent. Possibly, just like the zombies within the film, he takes a poison supposed for animals that has the unintended impact of supercharging his talents. I’m mixing my talisman and poison metaphors now, however as beforehand established, there are not any guidelines and nothing issues, so simply roll with it and as an alternative linger on the thought that if Alvarez ever leaves the Astros, he might morph right into a supercharged monster completely.
Whereas we’re defying logic, I did come upon one member of the Colorado Rockies with a house/highway cut up price mentioning. In 228 plate appearances at Coors Area, Michael Toglia hit eight house runs; in 230 plate appearances away from Coors Area, he hit 17 house runs. So, in practically the identical variety of alternatives, Toglia smacked greater than twice as many house runs on the highway as he did at Coors Area, a park infamous for juicing fly balls. My finest guess is that the stadium’s fame is doing psychic harm to a 26-year-old first baseman with only one full season underneath his belt. His exhausting hit charge continues to be greater at house, suggesting possibly he thinks that every one he must do is swing out of his footwear and the skinny air will do the remainder. In the meantime, his Med% is greater on the highway and he hits the ball to the alternative subject extra typically, suggesting a extra managed, purposeful swing away from the affect of Colorado. Possibly he’s overthinking the atmospheric circumstances, or possibly he made a take care of an evil imp that granted him 60-grade uncooked energy all over the place besides the Mile Excessive Metropolis.
Generally chaotic occurrences exist purely for comedic reduction, providing no bigger societal lesson or commentary on humanity. At one level in Useless Alive, Lionel visits his mom’s grave as a result of he is aware of she’s a zombie and, due to this fact, not really useless, so his grasp plan is to manage sedatives to her indefinitely to be able to maintain her safely within the floor. When he will get jumped on the cemetery by a band of native hooligans, he’s saved by a priest (actually, not spiritually), who appears to have precisely one ability, which is, because the priest places it, to “kick ass for the Lord.” He does single-handedly wipe out the hooligans with what seems to be self-taught kung fu, however then promptly will get conscripted to the zombie ranks. The kung fu priest of baseball is Mike Yastrzemski, proper fielder for the Giants, whose excessive singular ability is hanging out method much less at house than on the highway. All of his different splits are as anticipated, however when batting at Oracle Park, he strikes out 19.7% of the time, in comparison with 32.6% all over the place else. It’s essentially the most excessive strikeout distinction within the bigs by a few share factors.
Within the film’s subsequent scene, Lionel has rounded up the present group of zombies, together with the priest and a nurse, who was initially dispatched to look into his mom’s illnesses earlier than her transition to undead was full. The priest and the nurse take a liking to 1 one other and wind up birthing a child zombie. This results in a scene that was not within the unique script and serves no goal to the bigger narrative; actually, it’s simply there for the jokes. Jackson determined so as to add it after they’d completed filming every part else, as a result of they had been nonetheless underneath funds, and since then, he has known as it his favourite scene within the film. For no understandable purpose, Lionel takes the newborn to the park, pushing it alongside in a stroller and mimicking the actions of the moms he observes interacting with their infants. Maybe Lionel thought {that a} change of surroundings and treating the newborn like a daily human child would coax it into appearing like a daily human child, however it didn’t. As a substitute the viewer is handled to a sequence of hijinks, the place the newborn drags Lionel all around the park, and Lionel has to behave like tackling a child is completely regular conduct.
New Orioles outfielder Tyler O’Neill is the zombie child hoping {that a} change of surroundings does immediate a metamorphosis. O’Neill skilled a fair stranger taste of Yastrzemski’s strikeout cut up. It’s not significantly uncommon for hitters to strike out much less in San Francisco (although to not the acute reached by Yastrzemski), and the identical holds true for Boston, the place O’Neill performed his house video games final yr. However O’Neill flipped the script; as an alternative of hanging out much less at Fenway Park, he struck out considerably extra steadily, posting a charge of 39.7% versus 27.9% on the highway. O’Neill hasn’t all the time struck out extra at house than on the highway. For instance, throughout his last two years with the Cardinals, he was higher in St. Louis than he was away from it, which is attention-grabbing contemplating that Fenway is a way more hitter-friendly park than Busch Stadium. It’s fairly humorous to assume that Fenway of all locations may act as one hitter’s kryptonite, however the Orioles are hoping that was the case right here. Maybe getting O’Neill into a distinct park will do for him what Lionel couldn’t do for the zombie child. If O’Neill’s general line winds up resembling one thing nearer to final yr’s highway efficiency, he’s more likely to be a productive contributor in Baltimore. The spike in strikeouts triggered his on-base share to crater to .301 in Boston, in comparison with .369 all over the place else.
For as a lot as we’d like for every part in baseball and life to observe some logical, rational, and quantifiable pure order, it doesn’t all the time work that method. There are too many lurking variables, brokers of chaos, and forces we don’t but perceive. Generally it’s extremely humorous when one thing occurs that we will’t clarify. Generally it teaches us one thing fully separate from what we got down to divine. Generally we simply have to simply accept that we don’t know what a bizarre factor is de facto about.