What is in hand? Baseball is full of right-handed and left-handed players, and the best game ever was a mixture of the two.
From Babe Ruth to Ken Griffey Jr., and from Willie Mays to Derek Jeter the iconic right-wing batsman. The same goes for pitchers. From Sandy Koufax to Randy Johnson, there are the greatest left-handers of all time, and the historically great right-handers from Bob Gibson to Pedro Martinez.
So what is the difference? Well, it turns out that being a left-hander is important, whether you are a pitcher, batsman or outfielder. The reasons are as follows.
on the mound
Star left-handed pitcher can become a prize product. Why? First, scarcity. There are fewer leftists than rightists.
Think about it. Only about 10% of the average population is left-handed. This correct majority doesn't magically flip when it comes to baseball players. Take the recent Major League Baseball history as an example - since 2010, nearly three-quarters of pitchers in MLB have been right-handed. Only one quarter are left-handed. The team will seize the opportunity and get a great left-handed pitcher.
But there is still a question, that is, why the pitcher's chirality is actually important. The answer is, in baseball, what is called "arrangement".
"Straiting troops" refers to a basic fact of baseball: right-shot players are better against left-handed players, and left-handed players are better against right-shots. It is much easier to see a pitcher from the other hand – especially the breakout pitches, which are easier to hit if they come towards you rather than away from you. Does
need evidence? Just look at this slider for Chris Sale toward Joe Mauer, one of the best left-handed batsmen of his generation. It starts from behind him. It keeps breaking the plate. He has no chance.
If you "split" a batsman's stats into his performance against right-handed and left-handed, then it's very likely that when he hits, he'll have better numbers for pitchers throwing from the other side. Some teams would “row” two players in one position — one right-handed batsman and the other left-handed batsman — deployed based on the type of pitcher they face.
Now, what really makes left-handed pitchers so valuable is that the left-handed rank has a greater advantage than the right-ranked rank. Left-handed batsman performs worse against left-handed pitchers than right-handed batsman.
This makes sense. In a left-handed batsman’s baseball career — from minor leagues to high school, from college to minor leagues, to MLB — he will face more right-handed pitchers than left-handed pitchers. Seeing left-handed pitching less experience may make it harder for him to hit the ball when facing it. Meanwhile, a right-right batsman will see a lot of right-right shots. He has the advantage of familiarity from all these repetitions.
left-handed pitchers are also more relative to than left-handed pitchers. Right batsmen are still the majority, but it is not as big as pitchers. So the left-handed pitcher gets a huge opportunity to take advantage of his rank… uh, the advantage.
In recent seasons, right-shot batsman ratios to left-handed batsmen are more like two-thirds to one-third, rather than three-quarters to one-quarter like pitchers. Left-handed batsmen make up over 40% of all batsmen, while left-handed pitchers have slightly more than 25%.
Left-handed pitchers will find more left-handed batsmen to surpass, rather than right-handed pitchers will find left-handed pitchers to attack.
In the circle
There are two obvious benefits to hitting the ball with your left hand.
The first one can be traced back to the scarcity of the left pitcher.A left-handed batsman will be more advantageous in a match against the right than in an adverse showdown with the left-handed.
Another: The left-handed batsman's penalty area is closer to first base physically, and the left-handed swing brings his momentum in the direction he needs to run.
In fact, some parents will teach their children to hit left-handed, or become a switch hitter, even if they are born right-handed. A young player can even teach himself to do so.
Who can blame them when the left swing looks as sweet as them?
On site
looked around the stadium of the Major League Baseball. You can't see any left-handed catcher. You can't see any left-handed short pass or third baseman or second baseman. But you can see that there are the correct thrower in every position.
The reason for this is in the physical design of the sport - the direction the players move around the diamond and the direction most throwing players have to make.
Let's start with infield players. Most infield throws are at first base, trying to get the batsman out. Therefore, the second baseman, third baseman and short passer are throwing to the left most of the time. This is the natural direction of right hand trampling and throwing. Left-handed throwers must spin awkwardly or throw in unnatural motions. It took precious time, and a moment could be the difference between safety and going out.
There are similar problems for catcher . In particular, if a runner steals third place, he moves from the catcher's right to the left—a natural throw for the right player, not a left-handed. The stolen base can be decided within one tenth of a second. There is no time to waste. There is an additional problem: because most batsmen are right-handed, they will stand in front of the throwing arms of the left-handed catcher, making his throwing more difficult.
The last left-handed catcher made a appearance in 1989 when Benny Distefano filled three vacancy for the Buccaneers. He was one of only five left-handed catchers to compete in major league games in the last century.
Left-handed in-field fill-up is also rare. Anthony Rizzo of the Cubs is usually a first baseman, and has played second base and third baseman in the past few seasons - but before him, the last left-handed third baseman was Mario Valdez in 1997 and the last left-handed second baseman was Don Martilly in 1983. Short stops for left-handed people are the rarest. Short passes are the most important infield position. The last left-handed to play there was Mark Rial in 1987.
Maybe one day, as the defensive formation becomes more flexible than in the past, the team will break the tradition and the left-handed will kick out of a position that is almost banned today. But now, for outfielders, it's like pitchers and batsmen: both left-handed or right-handed are important.
