Lefty against Lefty

Dont know about others but in "big" games we play the best 9 regardless of the pitcher throwing against us.

I'm a lefty myself, so I feel your pain on this one.

Though on the flip side, I can say that while coaches make that argument (lefty vs. lefty), it always seemed to me like they never say that about right hand batters facing right hand pitching.

Why is that?

B.Hackett
www.hackettbaseball.com

Right On Hackett. The player will have to face pitchers from both sides throughout his career. A .420 hitter is playing for me no matter who's throwing. I should say, especially when the really good pitchers are throwing against us.

This percentage thing may work in the bigs, but this may backfire on this coach.
Let us know the results.

It was a nice day went to a high school game. Between the 2 teams 11 pitchers used. All the atrategy of bringing in a lefty to face a left handed batter etc etc. (the lefty hit the batter and walked the next 2) A little overcoaching? Just a thought

The basic premise is that a breaking ball will break away from a same side pitcher and in on an opposing side hitter.

In reality,

Left handed pitchers make careers pitching low and outside to righty batters.

Lefty batters make careers hitting low inside pitches.

It is more natural for a lefty batter to see more low inside fastballs and breaking balls from a lefty pitcher than a righty pitcher.

If the catcher applies the logic of the strategy, it may work in favor of the defense.

Most don't and lefty batters hit plenty of doubles and home runs off those low inside pitches.

Good pitchers will throw low and away and high and tight.

Good hitters are good hitters and they will hit any pitcher regardless of the arm he throws with

As per usual lots of generalizations and clich'es. The reality is some left-handed hitters hit left-handed pitchers better than they hit right-handed pitchers. Some left-handed hitters have the same success against either and some [I would say the majority at the high school level but that is merely an educated guess on my part] have more trouble against left-handed pitchers of the same basic skill and ability as a right-handed pitcher.

To answer the original question; NO. Any coach worth his slim paycheck should not take all left-handed hitting starters out of the line-up simply because they are facing a left-handed pitcher the next day. Any coach worth his slim paycheck should know his hitters better than that and should, maybe, consider taking out all hitters right or left-handed that have proven to be statistically worse hitters against left-handed pitchers and give some of the bench sitters a chance to see if they can hit this particular lefty.

Of course, if you don't keep those kind of statistics [i.e. how your left-handed hitters do against left-handed pitching] you are probably not a coach that earns his slim paycheck.

TW344

allaboutbaseball,
If I'm correct about the school your son goes to, coach's plan backfired on him-correct? Good luck to your son and his team in playoffs, though!

There are no 'good hitters' in baseball.

When the standard of excellence is 3 hits in 10 at bats, baseball raises the lower end of mediocrity to star levels.

In no other endeavor in life is a success rate of 3 in 10 tries acceptable.

The best hitters are the ones who strike out the least.

BOBO

There are no "good hitters" in baseball ????---

The more you post the more I begin to believe you do not know that much about the game

Lots of interesting comments on this. Appreciate it guys. Well the removal of all lefties back fired in a horrible way. Coach had to play one lefty because he was the back up first baseman to the young man who pitched. What happened is ironic. Our team only had 1 hit in the game and yes it was the lefty who got the hit. Sometimes coaches just over coach. Last time we played this team with all of the regular starters in we had 9 hits.

TR/BOBO:

Now let's not turn this into a ******* Match.

Your Both Right!!!

Good Hitter's In MLB Baseball Standerd's
Hit .300 for average.

And if Batter should Hit Whom ever is Throwing the Pitch!!

He should be batting .800 for average.

The Tougher the Pitching, the harder it is to hit the ball.

The Problem with Hitting is the FACT that there are 8 other player's on the field, Wanting to take that good hit away from you. the EH

Playing good fundamental baseball would have given the defense an advantage in the same side pitcher debate.

MLB has over the years tried to give greater advantages to hitters. They have among other things lowered the pitching mound and made the strike zone smaller.

These things were done because nobody was hitting .400 anymore. Even with the moves to increase the advantage to the hitter, hitters are still not hitting .400, nor are there many consecutive game hitting streaks worth noting.

Bobo- There hasn't been a player in the MLB to hit over .400 in 60 years (Ted Williams). In the 1960's when Mickey Mantle raised power to another level, Willie Mays combined power and speed and Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's record, there was nothing that the MLB did to stop that. In fact, they tried to stop it, specifically in the Maris example, by putting an asterisk in the records until the 90's. The mound wasn't lowered until 1969, the year after Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA. Consecutive hit streaks worth nothing??? What other consecutive hitting streak has anyone ever heard of since Dimaggio's 56? How about Jimmy Rollins' 37 that just ended in the beginning of this month. That's not worth anything?

"Playing good fundamental baseball would have given the defense an advantage in the same side pitcher debate." That goes for any pitcher and batter in any situation. But in terms of same side pitching, it is true. I am a lefty, and because I am not accustomed to seeing left-handed pitchers I sometimes have trouble picking up the ball as easily and adjusting to the pitch movement. Though, the fastball tails towards you, which caused some of the longest balls I've ever hit to be off left handed pitchers.

IMO, blaming the MLB for trying to level out the game and maybe making it more exciting for the fan (everyone's ultimate goal in the game, fans=money of course) doesn't make any good at all. Your profile says you are a baseball fan trying to help kids play baseball. How can you help kids if you're too busy criticizing the things that they look up to and admire?

My sons high school team faced an outstanding lefty yesterday who struck out 16 and allowed only 3 hits and walked just 2. The lone lefty hitter in the lineup had 2 hits, walked once and was the only batter not to strike out. He's also the leading hitter on the team. The point is--as a few have mentioned--a good hitter is going to hit regardless of what side the pitchers throws from.

Last nite Mets vs Giants

Lefty Wagner pitching against Bonds---lefty strength on the mound vs lefty strength at the plate--result Home Run for Bonds


So much for the lefty vs lefty theory