We're continuing our tour of MLB parks, highlighting the best sections to sit (or stand) in to catch a home run ball. Our next stop will be in Houston and Daikin Park (formerly and better known as Minute Maid Park). We grouped potential landing spots into seven sections, including the well-known and easily identifiable Crawford Boxes.
As for methodology, we pulled Statcast data from 2020 to 2024 to create the attached heat map of the most common long ball landing spots. In total, 850 home runs were hit at Daikin Park in the selected time frame.
Prime Seating for Home Runs at Daikin Park
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Batter's Eye
Unlike a lot of other parks around the league, there is seating available in straightaway center field. One of those sections is the Batter's Eye Boxes, which are almost directly beyond the center field wall. Even with the unique design of the park, this is still the deepest part of the field with the wall measured at 409 feet. It's hard to find specific information about these seats on the Astros' official site, but there are suggestions that the seats are both very expensive and hard to acquire. Given that combination and the relative infrequency of home run balls landing in this section (3.5 percent, 30 total HRs), this is not the best area to snag a home run ball.
Center Field
There is some additional seating in center field, immediately to the right of the batter's eye. These sections, known as Six J Marketing Field Club, are also premium seating and feature all-inclusive food and drink and a pregame photo opportunity on the field. Once again, there is no specific price information available, but it can be expected that these seats will be quite pricey. While it sounds like an excellent experience overall, this isn't the area to sit for those whose primary goal is to catch a home run ball with only 4.6 percent of long balls landing in this section.
Bullpens
The bullpens themselves are the first section in this sample where no seating is available, so we'll keep this brief. The bullpens are located immediately to the right of the two center field sections. There isn't an exact measurement available for the bullpen wall, but the distance is roughly 390 feet, slightly shorter than what we saw in straightaway center field. We also see the home run rate tick up slightly to 7.4 percent in these sections.
Bullpen Boxes
As the name suggests, these seats are located around the bullpens. They span sections 156-150 (from left to right), from directly behind the bullpens all the way to the right field line. It's not surprising that the home run rate spikes to 30.5 percent in these sections, as they cover almost half of the outfield and are a key power alley for left-handed hitters. Tickets are relatively reasonable in these sections, generally priced between $57 and $65 apiece. The combination of home run frequency (30.5 percent) and cost make the bullpen boxes a prime seating option for those hunting for long balls.
Right Field Mezzanine
The Right Field Mezzanine is in a second deck of seating, immediately behind the bullpen boxes. The story is quite similar to the bullpen boxes themselves, as the Right Field Mezzanine spans all of right field from sections 255-250 (from left to right). This remains a good spot for left-handed power, but the home run rate (17.8 percent) dips relative to the bullpen boxes because it requires a longer distance to reach these sections. There's no discount in price relative to the bullpen boxes, with most tickets in these sections checking in at $58.
Left-Center Gap
This is the second area of the outfield with no assigned seating available. However, there are some areas to stand, so individuals who purchase standing room only tickets can venture to this area to seek a home run ball. This is a good option for those working on a tighter budget, as 12.2 percent of home runs are hit to these sections. Unfortunately, standing room tickets aren't available for every game and ticket prices vary depending on the opponent as well as the day of the week the matchup falls on.
Crawford Boxes
We'll save the most iconic seating section for last. The Crawford Boxes occupy the left field line, spanning sections 100-103 from right to left. These tickets are both in high demand and relatively expensive, as they check in just over $100. The Crawford Boxes are something of a left field equivalent to right field in Yankee Stadium, as the wall sits only 315 feet from home plate. That makes the Crawford Boxes a prime target for right-handed hitters, and the only reason only 24 percent of home runs are hit to this area is the fewer seating sections relative to those available in right field. There's a premium price, but these seats offer a nice blend of sitting in an iconic portion of the park while still maintaining a solid chance at collecting a souvenir home run ball.
Conclusion
The two prime areas to sit for home runs are the Bullpen Boxes and Crawford Boxes, with the former offering a more affordable price. Acquiring stand-room only tickets and venturing to the left-center gap is also a strong value option, should those tickets be available for your chosen game. Finally, the Right Field Mezzanine should also be considered as a common home run landing spot, but there isn't much discount relative to the bullpen boxes despite being one level higher from the field.
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