Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Box Score, Turf Battles
Steven Souza Jr. misses a diving catch as rubber pellets from the new turf fly up. Photo credit: The Canadian Press/Peter Power” width=”590″ height=”443″ />
Toronto Blue Jays’ new (slow) turf will ‘speed up,’ official says; MLB monitoring situation at Rogers Centre
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TORONTO – It may take a couple of months before the new Rogers Centre turf stops gobbling up infield grounders that normally would bounce through for base hits, an AstroTurf official says.
Give it time and more games, and the field will play faster, AstoTurf vice-president Kenny Gilman said in an interview. And the complicated process of removing the artificial grass between Blue Jays homestands might also help to make the field play faster, he said.
The removal machinery applies “extreme pressure” to the turf when it is rolled up, helping to stabilize the rubber pellets that form the infill and flatten the synthetic blades of grass, Gilman said. Over time, playing on it will do the same thing.
“I think both AstroTurf and the Blue Jays feel it’s a little slower than we thought it would play,” he said. “But it’s brand new and it will definitely speed up.”
Meanwhile, a source confirmed that Major League Baseball is “keeping an eye” on the way the new turf affects play. But the source stressed that MLB is not concerned at the moment and is monitoring the situation as it would any other design change that might impact play at any stadium.
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More than irregular bounces, players, coaches and fans this week have seen that the new turf slows down batted balls after the first bounce, making it easier for infielders to collect grounders and forcing outfielders to charge base hits for fear that a speedy runner might turn a routine single into a double.
After a week on the road on natural grass, the Blue Jays are playing a four-game series against Tampa Bay. Players on both teams say the surface “plays slow” and the Rays have mentioned odd hops caused by uneven spots. The infill of black “crumb rubber” splashes noticeably when a batted ball hits the turf.
…But he stressed that the Rogers Centre is unique. Virtually all other synthetic baseball fields are permanent and last eight to 10 years, he said.
The Rogers Centre baseball turf is often removed to accommodate non-sports events. The field also must be converted for Toronto Argonauts football games. The Argos’ contract expires after the 2017 season, and the Jays hope to have a natural-grass baseball field installed by opening day 2018.
When the Blue Jays’ turf is removed, machinery grabs the strips of turf – they are 15 feet wide and roughly 100 feet long – and coils them into tight 7,000-pound rolls.
“It’s being rolled up under extreme pressure, so that will help to compact the infill and it’ll also help mat down the grass fibres that are standing up right now and which are contributing to the slow ball roll,” he said.
The entire playing field weighs just under half a million pounds, Gilman said.
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[ Ed. note: Yes, this is where the Braves are heading: Toronto – the home of temporary artificial turf. Hopefully they will get into town soon enough to get a good look at this field, for (1) it’s not going to be the rocket-fast/concrete-bouncy surface of the past; and (2) it seems there are some issues that the fielders will have to keep in mind that could impact play. ]