Pirates Caffeine: Check Out Where Casey McGehee Hits Homers

The Pittsburgh Pirates trade

for Casey McGehee had us thinking something this morning before we left for work.  Doesn’t he hit a lot of home runs to center and right field?  We started checking it out at ESPN Hit Tracker.

A quick look confirmed our thoughts – at least a little bit – when McGehee hit at Miller Park.

He blasted homers off Kerry Wood to right center, Kevin Correia to center, Sam Demel to right center, and Edwin Jackson to center.

In that same game he hit the bomb off Jackson, he belted two more homers off Jackson (and got the whipped cream pie) – he pulled two to the left field corner that were 391 feet and 408 feet.

McGehee’s’ last homer at Miller Park also went to left field – a 367 foot shot off Ryan Dempster.

The thought that PNC Park is a black hole to right handed hitters is well known.  But at first glance, McGehee might be able to compensate for it after looking at some of his blasts.  If he can start hitting breaking balls better, and is healed from his thumb injury, there is reason for some optimism around this deal for the Bucs.

McGehee in 2010 confirmed our thoughts.  As we looked, we saw four bombs hit to left center field, most between 380 and 410 feet.  Two homers were hit right down the left field line – one going 409 feet.  But here is the skinny:  four homers were hit to right field and one to dead center field.

Here is 2010 at Miller Park:

We didn’t check out his monster year in 2009.  But here it is:

2009 at Miller Park: