The Toronto Blue Jays – and their opponents – will have to deal with a reconfigured Rogers Centre outfield that includes higher walls and shallower dimensions when the 2023 season opens.
And one key change as well – a shorter wall in straightaway centre field.
In left-centre field, the wall distance has been reduced from 375 feet to 368, with a slight increase in wall height, from 10 feet to 11 feet, 2 inches. But in right-centre field, the distance drops from 375 to 359, and the wall is now 14 feet, 4 inches high, as opposed to the previous 10 feet.
However, as pointed out by Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith, we could be seeing some centrefielder thievery when it comes to home runs, as the centre-field wall has been dropped from 10 feet to eight feet.
"It doesn't matter where you put the wall, those guys are gonna make plays," Blue Jays' pitcher Alek Manoah told Sportsnet's Hazel Mae about the outfielders. "It's just my job to force weak contact and let them make those plays."
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