Right vs Left and Left vs Right

PG

Think that when you see so many RHP's it matters not what side of the plate a hitter swings from--this is why LHP's are a commodity---stats do not tell the entire story because they are skewed by the number of RHP vs LHP as well as the number of rH hitters vs LH hitters

Interesting topic...

Mark Teixeira is an enigma. One of the few switch hitters that I am aware of that seem to hit equally as well from both sides of the plate. Mantle obviously could do it. Robbie Alomar was a good one imho. Maybe there are lots of them out there who can do it well from both sides and I am forgetting about them (see my updated notes below as I indeed forgot some of them).

It seems to me that there are so few who ever come along and excel at it that it does not justify trying to do it. I have seen some advice that if you are going to do it that you have to remain committed to it and accept lots of failure. I wonder about that strategy. Perhaps every once and a blue moon a natural switch hitter is born. Maybe Dad's out there are justified suggesting it to their sons if they have some suspicion the son might be a natural at it. In other words, if the son seems to take to it right away and demonstrate consistent results naturally. If you have to grind at it i.e., it does not come as naturally, perhaps it is more of a gimmick and a player would be better served learning to hit lefty's and righty's equally as well from the same side of the plate. That is one thing we will never know about many switch hitters - could they have hit even better if they would have stuck to one side? I don't really know about any of this but was just throwing thoughts/suspicions out there for discussion

Regarding Texeira's power numbers... He had many more left handed plate appearances so that will obviously skew the numbers. Moreover, Yankee Stadium played extremely small in right field this year as there was some suggestion that it created a jet stream for fly balls. Notorius non-power hitters were hitting them out there this year.

If any one can find a top 10 all-time switch hitter list I would like to see it. I would also like to see the splits for these hitters to see how they hit from the respective sides of the plate.

Actually, before posting this I went and did a search and there were more of them than came to mind. Pete Rose, Chipper Jones, and Eddie Murray were three great ones that should have come immediately to mind. Here is a pretty good list I found:

ALL TIME
Mickey Mantle (HOF)
Pete Rose (would have been a HOF)
Eddie Murray (HOF)
Chipper Jones (future HOF)
Frankie Frisch (HOF)
Roberto Alomar (future HOF)
Omar Vizquel (probably a future HOF)
Ted Simmons
Bernie Williams
Chili Davis

ACTIVE
Chipper Jones
Omar Vizquel
Carlos Beltran
Victor Martinez
Mark Teixeira
Jose Reyes
Jimmy Rollins
Lance Berkman
Jorge Posada
Brian Roberts

Lefties do better against son than righties, not by much, but I always thought that the discomfort level of facing lefties had a lot to do with it.

As you move up, one gets to see fewer lefties, and for RHP, that's a good thing.

I just wanted to say I find this discussion fascinating.

quote:

Originally posted by CPLZ:
I just wanted to say I find this discussion fascinating.

I think it is. It is also interesting to consider those who go against the grain of the sterotypes. For intance, there are right handed pitchers who have better results against left handed hitters and vis versa. Why is that? Ball movement? Psychology? Confidence? Coincidence?

Similarly, some left handers hit lefty pitchers better than righties and some right handed hitters hit righties better than lefties. Why is that? Are some of these hitters actually hitting from the wrong side of the plate? Is it possible the dominant eye plays a big role in this?

I enjoy this type of discussion. Certain guys go against the grain or the book in their approach. Why? Their stuff is different. Most RHP are more effective against RHH because their out stuff works away from RHH. But that best out stuff works into LHH.

I always loved to see Pedro pitch when he was in his prime and had it going. He had outstanding "out" stuff to both sides of the plate and that is rare. He was equally tough on rhh as well as lhh when he was in his prime.

quote:

Originally posted by ClevelandDad:

Is it possible the dominant eye plays a big role in this?

I for one think it does CD. That, and the fact that RHP are so common that they (the hitters) have been conditioned better to face them from seeing them so much over the early years. Lefties are in fact a true and rare commodity. Second to them are those submariners that make me cringe when I see them throw...lol.

I agree with Coach May, a lot has to do with the out stuff, you have to be exceptional like Pedro to pitch equally to RHP and LHP. That's tough.

For the real good hitters I do not think it matters what arm the pitcher throws with---a good hitter is a good hitter

CD,

I'm in your camp regarding switch-hitting. Right handed hitters have no problem with RHP, why does a left-hand hitter against a LHP pose such a problem?

The rebuttal is that there are less left handers (only 20% of population) so hitters have less opportunites against them. Thus batters hit right handers better because they do it more often.

Following that logic, increased reps make you better, then why dilute the reps by practicing from both sides. I want ALL my quality reps and actual at bats from my dominate side! No????

Also, if pitchers were taught to throw quality pitches that break to both sides of the plate, would we need all this specialization?????

quote:

Originally posted by Prime9:
Also, if pitchers were taught to throw quality pitches that break to both sides of the plate, would we need all this specialization?????

Hey Junior, throw that same pitch, but make it go to the other way this time, K?

Let's try this by position, and then list the
notables:

C Ted Simmons
1B Eddie Murray
2B Frankie Frisch
SS Ozzie Smith
3B Chipper Jones
RF Pete Rose
CF Mickey Mantle
LF Tim Raines

Notables

Roberto Alomar
Carlos Beltra
Lance Berkman
Bobby Bonilla
Max Carey
Roy Cullenbine
George Davis
Chili Davis
Augie Galan
Victor Martinez
Jorge Posada
Red Schoendiest
Ruben Sierra
Ken Singleton
Reggie Smith
Mark Teixiera
Garry Templeton
Omar Visquel
Roy White
Bernie Williams
Willie Wilson
(and having no MLB #s Cool Papa Bell)

Regards