Blue Jays players who will be most impacted by the insanity of Coors Field

The Toronto Blue Jays will open a series against the Colorado Rockies on Friday night at Coors Field — a venue completely unlike any other in the majors.

Because of the high altitude in Denver, the ballpark is an offensive haven with Statcast's highest Park Factor rating (111) over the last three years. The ball travels extremely well at Coors Field, but it would be an oversimplification to say that all Blue Jays hitters will be in for a big weekend while the whole pitching staff is likely to suffer.

MLB's most unusual park will affect different players to different degrees depending on their play stye. Here's a breakdown of the Blue Jays likeliest to produce extreme results in the crucial series due to the Coors effect:

Hitters

To find hitters who will benefit most from a trip to Denver, the first place to look is groundball rate. It's impossible to take advantage of thin air with a ball travelling along the dirt. Flyballs are more likely to carry for home runs at Coors, and line drives have the ability to find the stadium's massive outfield gaps.

Another factor that plays a role is raw power, or perhaps a lack thereof. For hitters who tend to clear the fence by a significant margin when they hit home runs — think Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — the Coors boost is unlikely to make a huge difference. Hitters who produce more wall scrapers have more to gain from some added carry on the ball.

The Blue Jays have a few players who consistently keep the ball in the air, but could use a little power boost.

Davis Schneider

Considering he's slashing .426/.526/.894 in his first 14 MLB games it doesn't seem like Schneider needs much help from Coors to keep rolling, but the park meshes perfectly with his skill set.

His groundball rate early in his MLB career is just 18.8%, far below the MLB average of 42.8%. We're dealing with a tiny sample, but his minor-league career suggests Schneider can be relied upon to keep the ball in the air.

Before his promotion to the majors his groundball percentage was just 28.8% at Triple-A, and that number hasn't topped 30% at any level since 2019.

While the rookie has been hitting for plenty of power recently, his raw thump leaves something to be desired. His max exit velocity is in the 30th percentile among MLB hitters, and his average home run distance (389 feet) ranks eighth on the Blue Jays.

Many of his batted balls are hit to the warning track or just over the wall, so a little Coors magic seems likely to do him some good.

Danny Jansen

Jansen has many of the same characteristics as Toronto's rookie sensation as a hitter. Both players lack high-end power but compensate by pulling flyballs at an impressive rate.

The catcher hits relatively few groundballs (34.0%) with the highest flyball rate on the team (52.7%). Much like Schneider, he also has a relatively low average home run distance (388).

Jansen doesn't hit as many line drives as the 24-year-old rookie — so he may not be able to capitalize on the spacious gaps in Denver — but he's a good bet to go deep in this series.

Daulton Varsho

Varsho has the second-lowest groundball rate on the Blue Jays (31.5%), and his launch angle (20.3) is higher than any of his teammates.

Unlike most other Blue Jays, the outfielder also has a fair amount of experience at Coors Field from his time with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In 14 games at Coors, the outfielder has slashed a meaty .283/.353/.562 with four home runs and two triples.

Denver is by far the best place in the majors to hit triples with a Park Factor of 211 for three-base hits — Comerica Park is second at 171 — so left-handed hitters possessing above-average speed like Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier and Cavan Biggio have opportunities to produce three baggers.

Starting pitchers

With pitchers, there are a couple of things to consider in the battle to survive Coors. Groundballs and strikeouts are especially valuable and curveballs don't break the way they do at other parks, making life difficult for pitchers relying on that offering.

The three starters Toronto will roll out vary in their likelihood to weather the storm ahead of them.

Hyun-jin Ryu

Toronto's Friday starter is not particularly well positioned to thrive in Denver.

His strikeout rate is relatively low (20.6%) and he throws a curve 18.6% of the time. That pitch has also been his best offering at missing bats with a 36.6% whiff rate.

If the Rockies consistently put the ball in play against him he could be in for a long night, although his groundball rate is above-average (45.7%).

Yusei Kikuchi

Kikuchi brings a slightly below-average groundball rate to Coors (38.3%) but he has the ability to compensate by missing bats thanks to a strong 25.3% strikeout percentage.

The southpaw throws his curveball at a similar rate to Ryu (17.0%) and he uses it slightly more against right-handers, which means he'll have to adjust more when he lacks the platoon advantage. The Rockies often use three lefties even against southpaws, making things a little easier on Kikuchi.

Kevin Gausman

Gausman is in the midst of such a strong season, even an extreme ballpark is unlikely to affect him in a profound way.

Although he doesn't generate many grounders, he possesses the second-highest strikeout rate among qualified MLB starters (31.6%) and his fastball-splitter combo should fare well at high altitude.

Other notes

• In Toronto's bullpen, Tim Mayza is by far the most effective groundball pitcher (58.7%) while Trevor Richards (35.5%) and Jordan Romano (29.7%) stand out for their strikeout rates. Richards and Romano both struggle to induce grounders, though, so their ability to rack up Ks could be mitigated.

• No relief pitcher on the Blue Jays besides longman Bowden Francis uses curveballs more than 10% of the time.

• Coors Field's enormous outfield surface area will be an excellent showcase for the defence of Kiermaier and Varsho. The former has a 96th percentile OAA mark (+9) while the latter ranks in the 94th percentile (+8)