SAN FRANCISCO — It has been a slow start to the offseason for the Giants' roster, but at their home ballpark, there’s been nothing but nonstop action.
The Giants are in the process of replacing their scoreboard with a state-of-the-art version about two times the size of the current one. Team president and CEO Larry Baer compared the project size-wise to the massive Jumbotron the Dallas Cowboys put up when they built a new stadium.
“We’re going to have the best scoreboard in baseball, we believe,” Baer said. “It’s going to be the first 4K scoreboard (in baseball). We’re going to be able to show information and entertaining features that we’ve never been able to show before just because of the capacity.”
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The new scoreboard is designed to serve different audiences at the same time. Baer said the Giants want to be able to show features for kids attending games, while also expanding their presentation in terms of advanced statistics. Last season, launch angles and exit velocities were shown on a tiny board underneath the main scoreboard, but advanced metrics will have a home on the new one. The Giants had been behind the times in this regard; several NL clubs already have scoreboard sections devoted to exit velocity and pitch information, including the rival Dodgers, who display it prominently.
“We’re going to be able to accomplish a lot more for people who want baseball information,” Baer said.
The Giants traditionally make one or two notable tweaks to the ballpark every offseason, but the main game-experience changes this season are big ones. In addition to the new scoreboard, weekday home games have been moved up from 7:15 p.m. to 6:45.
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As for the look of the field itself, not much will change. At the MLB Winter Meetings last week, Farhan Zaidi said he'd heard nothing to indicate the Giants will move their fences in or find a new location for the bullpens.