Chase Headley players third base for the San Diego Padres. Headly does a decent job of getting on base and hits for doubles power, but you wouldn’t know that looking at his overall stat line. PETCO Park greatly depresses his averages. For his career, Chase posted a .226/.311/.338 slash line at home, .296/.355/.435 on the road. What I find really fascinating about these numbers is that his batting average is so much lower. PETCO hurts power, and fewer home runs and doubles should mean a lower BA, but this is beyond that. Headley approaches offense differently at home. You can see in the difference between his OBP and BA that he walks more at home, but he also strikes out more, helping lead to a lower batting average. The following charts shows where he takes pitches at home and on the road:

Chase Headley taking pitches at home, 2008-2010

Chase Headley taking pitches on the road, 2008-2010

As you can see, Chase is a lot more likely to take pitches down and to the catcher’s left at home. If he gets the call he might draw a few more walks, but that also ups his strikeout rate. It’s an interesting adjustment to a park in which he hits poorly, trying to maximize his walks.

Thanks to Baseball Analytics for the heat maps.