Royals Adjust Outfield Dimensions at Kauffman Stadium to Boost Home Run Potential
The Kansas City Royals are making changes at Kauffman Stadium in an effort to increase home runs at their home field. The team announced Tuesday that most of the outfield fences will be moved in by 10 feet.
“We want a neutral ballpark where if you hit a ball well, it should be a home run,” Royals General Manager J. J. Picollo told ESPN. “The second they start feeling like they can’t get the ball out of the ballpark, they start changing their swing. I watched it for years and years and years, and I just felt like this is the time to try to push it and see if everything we felt for however many years is accurate.”
While the center field dimensions will remain at 410 feet, right-center and left-center field will be shortened from 389 to 379 feet. The corner outfield fences will stay at 330 feet. Additionally, the Royals plan to reduce the height of the outfield walls from 10 feet to 8½ feet.
Kauffman Stadium has traditionally been tough on home runs but slightly more favorable to hitters overall, largely due to its massive outfield dimensions—the second-largest in Major League Baseball behind the Colorado Rockies’ Coors Field. Over the past three seasons, the park factor at The K has been 101, indicating a slightly hitter-friendly environment.
However, the stadium’s size has resulted in many singles, doubles, and triples, often at the expense of home runs. In fact, Kauffman Stadium had a home run park factor of just 85 over the last three seasons, which ranked tied for third-lowest among all MLB parks.
“Our goal here isn’t to have an offensive ballpark,” Picollo explained. “It’s to have a very fair ballpark. We don’t want it to turn into a bandbox and every ball up in the air turns into a home run. We just want hitters to be rewarded when they hit the ball well, particularly in the gaps.”
The hope is that creating a more neutral ballpark can help the Royals build a consistent winner in Kansas City. “It’s not that we’re trying to jump-start our offense,” Picollo said. “The more neutral it is at home, the better success we think we’ll have overall.”
Royals Vice President of Research and Development and Assistant General Manager Daniel Mack emphasized the importance of consistency for both hitters and pitchers. “You don’t want to make the park so offensive that it hurts your pitchers,” Mack said. “But one of the things we know is that our fly balls, particularly in parts of this park, the run value per fly ball is significantly less than the league. It’s in the bottom third. We know our players feel that viscerally.”
Sluggers like Vinnie Pasquantino are intrigued by the changes. Pasquantino shared his thoughts in a detailed post on social media platform X: “I’m very curious how this is going to play out in multiple ways. And honestly mostly from a data perspective. Hitters like hitting at the K because the visuals are nice but everyone also agrees it’s been a pitcher’s park forever.”
As the Royals prepare for the upcoming season, fans and players alike will be watching closely to see how these adjustments impact gameplay and whether Kauffman Stadium truly becomes a more balanced venue for hitters and pitchers.
https://nypost.com/2026/01/13/sports/royals-moving-in-fences-in-dramatic-change-to-boost-home-runs/
