A Better Home Park

It appears the San Diego Padres are about to trade Adrian Gonzalez to the Boston Red Sox.  Gonzalez posts great offensive numbers despite playing in a home park at hurts his home run power.  The difference is obvious in the following charts showing his home runs over the last three seasons:

Adrian Gonzalez, home runs at home, 2008-2010.In addition to the distance of his home runs, note the two distinct power zone in the strike zone.

Adrian Gonzalez, home runs away, 2008-2010.Not only do his home runs fall closer away from PETCO, but his power doesn't disappear in the middle of the strike zone.

What really should be getting Red Sox fans excited, however, is Gonzalez's power the other way.  All those dots in leftfield means he's going to be pounding the Green Monster and depositing balls in the seats above it.  Not all of those balls in play in that direction will be home runs, but the ones falling short are much less likely to be outs.