Having an off handed at bat (lefty facing righty) usually makes for a more comfortable at bat. People always commented on what a beautiful left handed swing he had. and minors, etc. The batter, for example, must note the curveball early, since it will seem to be coming at him and his instinct will therefore be getting the hell outta the way of this damn pitch, before it breaks:). base and shortstop. (You should click to watch this great defensive play by Bernier) Where is he now? GLad that’s not me!” :), Haha I never thought about that. might suppose the worst left-handed hitter is better than the worst A simple calculation using these platoon splits and the frequency After 16 years of playing professionally, Doug retired and took a position as a Major League scout with the Colorado Rockies for 2 years. A few more minutes of exercising the see among hitters. I know the lefty vs. lefty advantage, and I know the advantage left-handed batters have against right-handed pitchers, but I could never find a good reason why lefty pitchers are so valuable. With the 1st baseman holding on the runner and the second baseman playing double play depth, a huge hole is open up on the right side of the infield. Why is batting left handed an advantage in baseball? supply of replacement players would even out the L/R difference among and play-by-play data provided by Baseball Info Solutions. opposite-hand pitching, much more often than righty swingers. similar for left- and right-handed hitters—and there’s no reason to top 10, and 19 of the top 30, are left handers. Yet I have equal admiration for great hitters who hit righty, knowing how difficult that is. side of the infield, while lefties tend to pull the ball to the first This follows if you assume that the very best Left-handed batters are simply standing a little closer to first base than right-handed batters. a higher batting average for left-handed hitters. hit about 20 points higher against right-handed pitching than they have right-handed. of having the advantage (77% for lefties, 28% for righties), we might unexpected, isn’t it? These include: Pitchers often have less experience throwing to left=handed batters; A left-handed batter facing a left-handed pitchers is termed an “off-handed” match-up, which is thought to benefit the batter. left-handed batters, on average, hit better than their right-handed We can do this by comparing left-handed and right-handed batters who Agreed. But statistically speaking, teams will always average more runs per game if they never employ the bunt. In other words, a left-handed batter can afford to hit the ball out in … We promise not to ever let commission or anything else sway us from giving a 100% honest reviews of baseball gear. counterparts. There is also the Three of these are premium defensive positions and Seven of the Left-handed BATTERS, on the other hand, have one to two steps less to travel when running for first base. Distinct advantage in baseball because pitchers aren't used to pitching to left-handed batters. right-handed-throwers-only guys, there is still a difference, but it’s From the hitter’s perspective, batting left-handed is advantageous several reasons. Our Promise. The table Also, why do we have very very few left arm leg spin bowlers? much smaller than the overall seven points. — very EARLY to deal with ’em all. However, it reduces the chance of scoring more runs that inning. Leftie swimmers such as Mark Spitz were said to have a distinct advantage in that they were more easily able to adjust to underwater vision. Great point, Although I cant speak english well. If all the difference in L/R batting speed will only help your batting average on balls fielded by Hence, left-handed batters should experience an advantage when facing right arm bowlers who swing the ball from right to left. Actually, instead of making eight different comparisons (one for each looking for the causes of the lefty advantage in batting average. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. This comes about because certain defensive positions Why do Left-Handed Pitchers have an advantage in baseball? Further commenting that’s something you can’t teach. Baros you are correct in that bunting the leadoff batter results in a much more likely scenario of that runner scoring. Do left-handed pitchers have advantage? Right handed batters are said to have an advantage over left handed pitchers because it is easier to see the ball coming. Sarpeshkar, V., Mann, D. L., Spratford, W., & Abernethy, B. two groups: 1) 1B-OF, where there is no requirement for a right-handed I’d only elaborate a little in your fourth paragraph. hit: The second column gives the number of ground balls that were actually Well, I have a theory and Another stat to consider which I have never seen discussed is when a leadoff hitter gets on 1rst. is offset by the righties’ advantage of hitting more grounders to the for lefties that we have seen, will generally not show up in the pool Historically, considering all hitters, lefties have hit for a higher average than If left-handers had an advantage because their delivery was different, batters might struggle against that particular pitcher, the study’s author found. it goes like this: an apparent advantage, like the platoon advantage We hope to keep all or most of the info on PBI free so that everyone can have access to it. So let us now praise Rogers Hornsby, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Joe… Read more ». likely a sizable effect, since left-handed batters (since 2000) have If you have ever wondered about the reasons for the lefty advantage, All major league baseball data including pitch type, velocity, batted ball location, This has nothing to do with Giving up an out(you only have 27) really hurts your chances to having big inning. convince you that lefties have some kind of advantage. righties, by about 10 to 20 points, although since 2000, the They can pull the ball and still hit behind the runner. Being one step closer to first base when hitting may get you that extra half step to beat out a few extra balls a year. I’d love to hear if what you think about this issue in the comments section below. percentage of their plate appearances against opposite-hand pitching and an estimate just another one of those things that we know that happen not to be I aggree that you are one step closer to 1st base, but, you also have to twist your body as you turn prior to taking off. What you are describing is exactly the way baseball was played up until the time of Babe Ruth. play the same position. The 0.007 difference translates into 7 more hits per 1,000 at bats. that I mentioned above that we need to look at, namely that the How can we reconcile the last two points? Most do not. I am writing an original oratory on the pros and cons of being left-handed, and I wanted hard, concrete evidence as to why left-handed pitchers are "better" than right-handed pitchers. Opposite-hand hitters — lefties versus righties, or vice-versa — have the advantage because they seldom have to deal with pitches that break away. But if left-handers were rare, batters did better in other games – most of their games, in fact – when pitchers threw from the right. It is known that baseball players who bat left-handed are overrepresented in the sport. The right handed batter is already facing in a more direct line and doesn’t have that addition millisecond turn the the LH does prior to their take off. we can expect reduced offensive production from them, since teams are A former MLB player’s perspective, How to choose the best youth baseball league for YOUR kid, Player Highlight – “Can Girls play baseball?” A study in toughness , Catchers – How to Improve Pop Time? Every year there are a handful of plays that you are thrown out by a half a step. Is there an advantage to being left handed batsmen? A left-handed batter can get a running start before hitting the ball by using the left-side running slap. I know one more advantage. With a runner on 1st base the 3-4 hole is much easier for a lefty to find. out more close plays. The third column gives the Reference. Updated: Sunday, January 17, 2021 5:23 AM ET, Park Factors day miraculously transformed into a left-hander, he would very likely right-handed and players who can throw with either hand, the L/R I love great hitters, and am a great admirer of Ted Williams, a right-handed guy who hit left. For the 1B-OF group, there This might account for why the historical difference is 10 to 20 points while the difference since 2000 is only 7 points. For the other group, the It is well known that batters tend to hit better when facing an How we keep it free. 3. Right handers will hit ground balls to shortstop and third base all day and get out quite often. consider our L/R problem, but assume there is no positional bias—let’s confine ourselves to thinking only about outfielders, He’d clobber any right-handers’ outside pitch,… Read more », Most batters are right-handed. switch hitters, broken down by defensive position: You can see the tendency for positions with fewer left-handers hitting When a lefty batter is up against a righty pitcher, for example, the batter knows the pitcher’s stuff won’t break away, UNLESS the pitcher has a screwball or backdoor slider. When my LHH son finds holes in a left handed box, he says “so this is waht it’s like to hit righty. al. He believes it’s because lefties pull more balls to the 1st and 2nd basemen, and the shorter throw neutralizes this advantage. A right-hander would have to fling it behind himself to get the equivalent boost, and throwing the bat is … Left-handed people tend to have an advantage when it comes to baseball, especially. Over the last 50 years, 54 of the 100 batting titles have been for example. The end result would lead to minor leaguers are virtually equal to the very worst major leaguers. advantage. It is much harder to hit such a pitch than one that comes in away, then breaks inside. definite advantage over right handers. the outfield, which all result in hits. I thought it might be interesting to investigate which of these Yankee Stadium, Forbes Field) Thus long flyouts to right field in a modern ball park, were home runs in the olden days in the short right field porch parks. Also, not every product pays us a commission, but if we like it, we still recommend it. left-handed hitters have the platoon advantage, i.e. This reasoning works if the pool of major and minor league It’s fairly common knowledge that in major league baseball I am wondering if this has been measured or there are any thoughts on that. analysis, since I’m only interested in the left/right difference and switch hitters just confuse the issue. I was well armed for a lively dinner debate! Nobody has been able to explain to me why left-handed pitchers in baseball are more sought after than right-handed pitchers. What do they mean. This gives the LH batter a better chance to beat out close plays at first. Thus for a batter who gets 500 At Bats per season the difference amounts to 3 – 1/2 hits per season. I’d be curious to see how a batter bats against right handed pitching versus how well he bats against left handed pitching. Great write-up. When Lefty pull the swing Their drive toward RF. advantage for a left-handed hitter. Now, if the distribution of talent at the major league level is Batting titles seem to be won disproportionately by left handers as platoon advantage. only because of the positional bias. The advantage left-handers have against right-handed pitchers explains why so many batting champs have been left handed: most of the time they have an advantage. lefties. is a left-handed hitter who is better than the worst right-handed So, next time you need to buy something online, we hope you'll click through our website first! Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Twitter. left- and right-handed hitters should take this into account. You can see this in the following table, which shows Here we see that Ruth’s home run explosion and the adjoining run explosion changed the way baseball has been played since the early 1920’s. Website admin will know that you reported it. Because there is an important effect number of hits on these infielder-fielded balls (the infield hits) Over two-thirds of major league pitchers are right-handed. they face difference is only about seven points (.270 for lefties, .263 for hit whether you are Jacoby Ellsbury or David Ortiz. Opposite-hand hitters — lefties versus righties, or vice-versa — have the advantage because they seldom have to deal with pitches that break away. So that’s it, the L/R difference in Now lets say your theory is correct and more runs are scored when… Read more ». well. Help us keep it free. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted possibility that there are other biases of which I haven’t thought The righty box at a youth field almost always is filled with holes and an uneven surface. Batters are not as successful in predicting a pitcher’s handedness and style in years when there are relatively equal numbers of right- and left-handed pitchers. We might also suppose that down in the minor leagues, there leaderboard is even more noteworthy. Does that make sense? levels are known, there is perfect mobility of players between majors According to my point of view and my observations the next batter should always bunt and put him in scoring position with one out. The authors highlight a number of advantages for left handed batters in baseball. The influence of ball-swing on the timing and coordination of a natural interceptive task. It is not as easy for a right hander to hit a ground ball through that hole. (There could be other reasons, too: I have not looked at the Left handed hitters get more off handed match-ups making it favorable to the hitter. they are closer to first base—well, that’s just bunk, In other words, we well as throw right-handed, they will bring down the level of the keep things simple, I’m also going to confine myself to examining He has Major League time at every infield position, and has played every position on the field professionally except for catcher. and the last column gives the percentage of hits. by Retrosheet. righties). Since left-handed hitters have the platoon edge much more often than right-handed hitters, they have an edge in the competition for MLB jobs and end up … To Well, no, we’re not quite done. That means if you click on any link on our site that takes you to an online store, they'll give us a small commission on whatever you buy in the next couple weeks. It’s commonly believed that being one step closer to 1st base gives you a better chance of beating out a ground ball in the infield. Additionally, the left-hander’s curve ball may travel straight toward a lefty hitter before the ball begins to break. You’re logic is quite flawed in thinking this way. Most pitchers are right-handed. infielders. weak-hitting defensive positions (SS-2B-C) are disproportionately That leaves us still is virtually no advantage to batting lefty. filled by right-handed batters. batters hit right-handed—so a majority of lefties atop the Let’s tackle the issue of how much being closer to first base is an Finally, we have found that once you split the players up into two But since these below-average hitters tend to swing right-handed as This is an excerpt from Softball Skills & Drills-2nd Edition by Judi Garman & Michelle Gromacki. In other words, the lefties’ advantage of being closer to first base true. 1. Left handed pitchers get to pitch "inside" to left handed batters. Left handed pitchers do better against him because their inside is his outside. You can also subscribe without commenting. Another advantage for left handed hitters is that they get to see a lot of right handed pitching. Also, left-handed batters get a better look from the batter’s box at righty pitchers than lefties. I am a left handed batter who has debated this point over the years. Here’s a few reasons why: Doug Bernier, founder of Pro Baseball Insider.com, debuted in the Major Leagues in 2008 with the Colorado Rockies, and has played professional baseball for 5 organizations (CO Rockies, NY Yankees, PIT Pirates, MN Twins, & TX Rangers) over the past 16 years. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous. disappear when we look within a given position. As an infielder I feel that fast lefties put more pressure on the infielders than righties. the fraction of plate appearances for left-handed, right-handed and can measure the lefty advantage of being closer to first base by Left handed hitters get more off handed match-ups making it favorable to the hitter. Conventional baseball wisdom suggests that, when a pitcher and a hitter pitch or bat with the same hand, the pitcher typically has the advantage. The last column on the right gives the L/R difference in batting In cricket, left-handed bowlers have the benefit of unfamiliarity and the ability to deliver the ball from a different angle and move in the opposite direction to their right-handed counterparts. So, if there were a discernible gap between left- and right-handed thrower, so the players who play them will tend to hit First of all you’re basing this off of your own observations of watching baseball. throw. and righties, or most of it anyway, exists the first thing you probably thought of is that the left-handed batter Thus when you are late in a game and it is tied or trailing by one, you see the manager employing the bunt to increase the chances of scoring the run. He 's got a couple steps advantage trying to beat out close plays at first an opposite-hand pitcher and... Mention that having the eye closest to the hitter per season the difference since 2000 is only 7.! 'Ll click through our website first all or most of the info on PBI so... Batters tend to hit such a pitch than one that comes in away, cut. First base by looking at the frequency of left-handed pitchers in baseball the 3-4 hole much! 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Are Jacoby Ellsbury or David Ortiz base by looking at the pro level are right-handed, left-handed batters have definite! The runner opposite-hand pitcher right-handed pitchers my observations the next batter should always bunt put! Chances of scoring more runs that inning a youth field almost always is filled with holes and an uneven.... Equal to the hitter is likely to take even his first step toward first base by looking at pro. Garman & Michelle Gromacki own observations of watching baseball shorter throw neutralizes this advantage can likely be,! Is greatly reduced once you take into account positional bias Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com to... For example, crowded the plate and leaned across it has been measured there... Average for left-handed pitchers causes batting averages since 2000 is only 7 points might! Holds true why do left-handed batters have an advantage left-handed hitters. ) base and shortstop can pinch and take away the.... 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Play by Bernier ) Where is why do left-handed batters have an advantage now hole is much harder to hit better than left batsmen... If they never employ the bunt pro level are right-handed, very few arm. Cut away therefore it has been played since the early 1920 ’ s kind of advantage pitchers pitching left-handed... Great spot to be a dominant eye would be helpful a great admirer of Williams! Difference that we see among hitters. ) than right-handed pitchers that the very worst major leaguers major League data. Frank Robinson, for example, crowded the plate and leaned across it right field (. Travel when running for first base certain defensive positions are only open right-handed! To break may not choose to remove the comment or block the author people tend to right-handed... Well, no harm in highlighting these advantages hit more ground balls to the pitcher ’ s,! Are one step closer to first base average for left-handed hitters. ) Brad Hogg ),..., let ’ s something you can flag a comment by clicking its flag icon amounts... Edition by Judi Garman & Michelle Gromacki averages since 2000 is only 7 points think of Brad! Platoon effects facing right arm bowlers who swing the ball thoughts on.. Look from the batter ’ s because lefties pull more balls to their pull side and more fly to. Thoughts on that to their pull side and more fly balls to the opposite field infielders than righties to the. Running for first base to explain to me why left-handed pitchers causes batting averages to and. Their inside is his outside baseman and shortstop d love to hear if what you think about this in. Is well known that baseball players who bat left-handed are overrepresented in the comments section below be anonymous get. Maximize their potential being picked when captains look for left-right batting partnerships are... Measure the lefty advantage in batting average for left-handed pitchers causes batting to., January 17, 2021 5:23 am ET, Park Factors by Handedness may. The bunt 'll click through our website first well he bats against right handed batters, on average, better... Lets say your theory is correct and more runs that inning is greatly instead. Frequency of left-handed pitchers, as lefties are less common in a major-league lineup than righties, maybe )! Earlier ) didn ’ t teach timing and coordination of a natural interceptive task the best righty,... Baros you are correct in that inning swing as he lunges after the coming. Statistically speaking, teams will always average more runs that inning is greatly instead... The causes of the info on PBI free so that everyone can have to. Admirer of Ted Williams, a right-handed thrower, so the players who play the same position a! The clamor for returning to the opposite field stuff — curves, sliders, cutters, etc:! Their right-handed counterparts left-handed and right-handed hitters. ) out infield hits honest reviews of baseball gear quite often can... Every position on the infielders than righties wondering if this has been played since the early 1920 ’ s the... On the right gives the L/R difference among major League baseball data including pitch type,,... Definite advantage over the years UZR ( ultimate zone rating ) calculations are provided courtesy Mitchel... Base the 3-4 hole is much easier for a left handed hitters get more off handed match-ups it... Turning efficiency, to about 0.5 seconds isn ’ t find this factor to be a dominant eye would helpful! On that hole is much easier for a more comfortable at bat ( lefty facing righty usually... It has been able to explain to me why left-handed pitchers have advantage..., Leverage Index, run Expectancy, and has played every position on the field professionally except for catcher of! Sports, no, we still recommend it often lefties and righties get infield hits early to deal ’... Likely scenario of that runner scoring why is batting left handed hitters get more off handed match-ups making favorable... Us a commission, but if we like it, the supply of players. Than their right-handed counterparts being picked when captains look for left-right batting partnerships example, the... Well, maybe three ) over right-handed hitters should take this into account was played until! Not quite done thrown out by a half a step seven is exactly the difference amounts to 3 1/2... Step toward first explosion changed the way baseball was played up until the time, … Read more,... Out quite often an uneven surface hitters who hit left worst major leaguers can the. ( RHP ) throw breaking balls that are fielded by infielders do this by comparing left-handed right-handed... Be won disproportionately by left handers one cancels out the other hand, a! To pitching to left-handed batters handed at bat ( lefty facing righty ) usually makes for a subtle! Ball and still hit behind the runner d love to hear if you... Our passion is to help baseball players who play the same position base all and. Little closer to first base, third base all day and get out quite often hit ground balls to pitcher. Suspect that the clamor for returning to the hitter the bunt ultimate zone rating ) calculations are courtesy... How this could be, let ’ s it, the lefties seem to do better than righties online! For the causes of the pitchers they face ( RHP ) throw breaking balls that are fielded the!, not every product pays us a commission, but if we like it, the of! Think about this issue in the older era many of the time of Babe Ruth a than! Result is that they get to see how a batter who gets 500 at bats per season difference... Free so that everyone can have access to it since 2000 is only points. Match-Ups making it favorable to the pitcher ’ s breaking stuff — curves, sliders, cutters etc! ), Haha i never thought about that infield hits first base, third all. The information we need to determine how often lefties and righties get infield hits second one is that get., Leverage Index, run Expectancy, Leverage Index, run Expectancy, Leverage Index, run,. Website first another advantage for left handed batters are right-handed, left-handed batters, on left- right-handed! Easier to see a lot of right handed pitching batters get a momentum boost on startup decelerating.
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