"On a Mission" Takes on New Meaning

It’s Official…

The Padres have moved their Double-A affiliate from the Southern League Mobile Bay Bears, to the Texas League San Antonio Missions.

The Southern League is known to be kind to pitching and Texas League to known be hitter-friendly. Nelson W. Wolff Stadium, where the Missions play, has fairly ordinary dimensions (310” to the LF foul pole, 402” in CF and 340” to the RF pole – power alleys are unknown) but according to the 2005 Baseball Prospectus, it plays as quite the hitters park. According to their “Park Factor” matrix, a 1000 score is a neutral park, and 1000+ are pitchers parks, where sub-1000 scores are hitters’ parks. Wolff Stadium posted an 898 PF in 2002, an 897 PF in ’03, and an 893 in ’04 (I didn’t have the data for ’05 or ’06). Conversely, Mobile played as a slight pitchers’ park posting PFs of 1021, 1013, and 1002.