D-backs president responds to heat complaints in Chase Field

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — More wins bring more fans, which means more body heat at Chase Field as the Diamondbacks are the hottest team in baseball, and the field may, at times, be the hottest stadium in the MLB.

Arizona Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall said Chase Field has been gradually getting warmer year after year. Hall said on some nights, it can get pretty bad, citing the weekend matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies when tens of thousands of D-backs fans showed up to the gates early for a replica NLCS Championship Ring.

Hall said that while the stadium needs major improvements in the off-season for cooling, he believes they can push the chill plant next door to its limits to create a cooler Chase Field.

“We’ve been told not to give it more than 12-15 hours of use because the ice water that comes in up in temperature, but we are pushing the limits now and tweaking it and seeing if we can’t start it a lot earlier, but we are always going to push it to max capacity and try to make everybody comfortable; that’s the most important thing,” Hall said.

The heat may also be causing players to leave the game, like Zac Gallen, who left a game with cramps.

Last week, pitcher Jordan Montgomery said pitching at Chase Field was like pitching in a jungle, citing the humidity on the diamond. On Wednesday night, Montgomery walked back his statement, saying he needs to drink more water and understands that they play in a desert.

“It’s always been that way; on the field, they don’t really have the airflow from the time this building was built, so from 1998 on, players have always said it’s really warm on the field,” Hall said. “I’ve talked to Randy Johnson about it, and he said he preferred it, he liked it, but some players don’t like it. As we look into some major changes in the offseason, we want to see if we can direct some of that cold air onto the field.”

Hall said they should have the cooler air “down to an art” for the next homestand.

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