Baseball is unique from other sports in that there is particular attention paid to lefty and righty pitchers and hitters. There are many reasons for this. One is that, technically, it’s slightly easier for a left-handed batter to get to first base on a swing, in the hitter is already moving his body toward first base at the end of his swing.
A right-handed batter is twisting his arms and body toward third at the end of a swing and has to reverse gears, so to speak, as he begins to run toward first. This is a slight differential, of course, but in athletic competition, any edge can be perceived as critical. It’s interesting that while left-handed people make up a small percentage of the population, they make up a huge number of batting champions in major league baseball. Lefties Tony Gwynn, Wade Boggs, Ted Williams, Stan Musial and George Brett all won numerous batting titles.
Managers alter their lineups many times with lefty/righty in mind, often platooning players simply because they hit righty or lefty pitchers better. This is why you see a manager late in a game often bring in a lefty specialist to face one lefty hitter.
Another reason is that certain pitches can be more effective against lefties than righties. Former Astro’s ace right-hander J.R. Richard had a devastating slider that was murder on righties. The pitch broke hard down and away from a righty, so the hitter often struck out or hit a ground ball. Richard wasn’t as dominant on lefties, who had a better chance of at least putting the bat on the ball of his best pitch. Former manager Whitey Herzog was a brilliant proponent of this, as well. In his book “White Rat” he explains how he preferred certain pitches – a forkball, a curve – against certain situations against righty and lefty hitters.
This is also why every season you see left-handed relievers who appear 100 years old still pitching in the majors (Jesse Orosco comes to mind). Lefty specialists who can get lefty hitters out are always in demand.
It’s interesting that this season when two left-handed starters have faced each other, the under began the year 22-4-1 in those games. A part of this might be that there are more righty starters in the majors, so hitters are more familiar with hitting a baseball thrown from the right side of the mound. They are less used to seeing a ball released from the left side.
Also, managers have a tendency to sit down some lefty hitters when facing a lefty pitcher. Cincinnati’s left-handed slugger Adam Dunn is hitting .286 against righties, but just .200 against lefties, and this is not uncommon.
Over the weekend there were four games on Saturday, May 29 where four lefty starters faced each other. Three of the four went under the total. Tom Glavine and Dontrelle Willis hooked up in Florida in a 2-1 game, while in Cleveland Cliff Lee topped Barry Zito and the A’s 1-0. This doesn’t mean this trend will continue with such one-sidedness this season, but understanding the lefty/righty dynamics in baseball is an essential element in successful handicapping.
