Back in August the Marlins talked about the possibility of moving in their fences to make their ballpark a bit more home run happy. They’re in the process of doing that now, and over at MLB.com the On Cloud Conine blog -- nice name, BTW -- there are some detailed pictures of the in-progress reconstruction of the outfield walls.
Center field around to right-center will see the most dramatic change, with walls coming in from a crazy 418 feet to a less-crazy 407. Moreover, all around the outfield the height of the walls will be reduced from 11.5 feet down to as low as 7 feet in height in some places, while remaining higher where preexisting video boards are in place. The lowest part of the wall will be in front of the Clevelander bar and its pool.
Giancarlo Stanton signed a 13-year, $325 million deal last March, so figure this is part of the push to get him to not opt out of it. Beyond him, the Marlins were second-to-last in team home runs last year with only 120, so the changes will no doubt be welcome up and down the lineup.
[mlbvideo id="539442583" width="600" height="336" /]
