Collette Calls: Baseball Loves Lefties

Robinson Cano could face a disproportionate number of lefties this year in AL West play.

Updated on March 15, 2015 4:30PM EST

By:

Jason Collette

Updated on March 15, 2015 4:30PM EST

Collette Calls

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Baseball loves lefties. Dontrelle Willis just retired earlier this week after attempting a comeback and had not pitched in the major leagues since 2012. Tony Fossas pitched until he was 169 years old. Pat Venditte, a natural righty, was so envious of lefties that he learned how to become a left-handed pitcher as well as a right-handed pitcher. Yu Darvish now needs his right arm sliced open, but did you know he also pitches lefty in the pen while warming up? I mean, who doesn't love a lefty?

You know who doesn't love lefties? Most left-handed hitters. In this day and age of specialization and platoon advantages, we often see someone with moderate to extreme platoon splits taken out of the lineup against a starting pitcher and always lifted for a pinch-hitter late in a game. As baseball fans, it makes sense because there are some players where even inserting a pinch-hitter with the statistical pinch-hitter penalty is a better play than leaving the original hitter in the lineup. As fantasy baseball fans, this sucks because it takes away plate appearances from our players and cuts into their offensive production.

David Ortiz is never getting lifted for a pinch-hitter, but there are plenty of other batters that are frequently told to take a seat when a southpaw comes out on the mound. Yet, there may be some good news on that front in 2015.

Last season, 26.9% of the pitches thrown in baseball were done so by a left-handed

Last season, 26.9% of the pitches thrown in baseball were done so by a left-handed pitcher. While those numbers aren't disaggregated by pitcher role, it is worth noting that percentage is the second-lowest percentage in recent years.

YEAR	P BY LHP	P BY RHP	TOTAL	% BY LHP
2009	196,959	520,087	717,046	27.5%
2010	199,413	510,981	710,394	28.1%
2011	189,955	517,887	707,842	26.8%
2012	210,654	494,667	705,321	29.9%
2013	205,077	504,847	709,924	28.9%
2014	189,496	515,476	704,972	26.9%

The table above shows that the total pitches by lefties is a bit cyclical, but it is in a downward trend over the past three seasons. The good news is that some of our extreme split lefties may get a few more plate appearances this season. Additionally, those batters who do play full time but have their struggles against lefties cut into their overall success could see a bit of a bump. The bad news - all divisions are not created equally and the unbalanced schedules will come into play in that regard. First, let's identify the extreme splits lefty batters.
The table below shows numbers against left-handed starting pitchers since most of these types of batters are still going to be lifted in the later innings. These stats are for active players over the past six seasons via Baseball-Reference:

Player	BA	BAtot	Diff ▴	PA
John Jaso	.196	.260	-.064	141
Corey Dickerson	.239	.297	-.058	100
Seth Smith	.209	.264	-.055	365
Juan Francisco	.185	.236	-.051	144
Matt Adams	.234	.283	-.049	172
Matthew Joyce	.201	.250	-.049	285
Jason Castro	.198	.243	-.045	251
Josh Thole	.207	.251	-.044	153
John Baker	.192	.235	-.043	82
Gregory Polanco	.193	.235	-.042	91
Andy Dirks	.234	.276	-.042	155
Garrett Jones	.212	.254	-.042	483
Kirk Nieuwenhuis	.200	.241	-.041	92
David DeJesus	.227	.267	-.040	539
Jordan Schafer	.190	.229	-.039	270
Jason Heyward	.224	.262	-.038	741
Carl Crawford	.252	.290	-.038	766
Andre Ethier	.240	.278	-.038	886
Pedro Alvarez	.198	.235	-.037	412
Colby Rasmus	.209	.246	-.037	727
Ryan Howard	.218	.255	-.037	786
Wade Miley	.113	.149	-.036	80
James Jones	.214	.250	-.036	87
Gerardo Parra	.239	.274	-.035	619
Chase Utley	.237	.272	-.035	841
Kole Calhoun	.237	.271	-.034	140
Skip Schumaker	.241	.275	-.034	371
Jarrod Dyson	.224	.256	-.032	142
Adam Lind	.243	.274	-.031	609
Conor Gillaspie	.233	.262	-.029	156
Mitch Moreland	.223	.252	-.029	301
Will Venable	.222	.251	-.029	389
Shin-Soo Choo	.252	.281	-.029	1027
Lucas Duda	.220	.248	-.028	388
Mike Moustakas	.208	.236	-.028	444
Michael Saunders	.204	.231	-.027	570
Brandon Belt	.242	.268	-.026	379
Yonder Alonso	.246	.271	-.025	340
Dustin Ackley	.221	.245	-.024	535
Brandon Crawford	.219	.242	-.023	428
Josh Reddick	.222	.245	-.023	503
Joey Votto	.290	.313	-.023	957
Robinson Cano	.291	.314	-.023	1404
Brad Miller	.219	.241	-.022	199
Anthony Rizzo	.232	.254	-.022	443
James Loney	.259	.280	-.021	864
Bryce Harper	.252	.272	-.020	407
Joe Panik	.286	.305	-.019	78
Brett Gardner	.248	.267	-.019	727
Christian Yelich	.267	.285	-.018	229
Cole Hamels	.161	.177	-.016	136
Jay Bruce	.235	.251	-.016	924
Joe Mauer	.304	.320	-.016	1011
Dee Gordon	.257	.272	-.015	316
Miguel Montero	.252	.267	-.015	624
Gregor Blanco	.245	.259	-.014	413
A.J. Pierzynski	.264	.278	-.014	667
Ike Davis	.228	.240	-.012	432
David Murphy	.258	.270	-.012	611
Freddie Freeman	.275	.286	-.011	701
Chris Davis	.239	.249	-.010	648
Adam LaRoche	.247	.257	-.010	847
Rougned Odor	.250	.259	-.009	115
Nate McLouth	.229	.237	-.008	522
Kyle Seager	.254	.262	-.008	682
Didi Gregorius	.236	.243	-.007	122
Leonys Martin	.257	.264	-.007	278
Brian McCann	.250	.257	-.007	766
Alejandro De Aza	.265	.271	-.006	396
Clayton Kershaw	.159	.164	-.005	110
David Ortiz	.277	.282	-.005	1020
Ryan Sweeney	.272	.276	-.004	313
Domonic Brown	.244	.248	-.004	325
Justin Morneau	.277	.281	-.004	824
Brandon Moss	.246	.249	-.003	294
Chris Coghlan	.270	.273	-.003	439
Ben Revere	.288	.291	-.003	561
Daniel Murphy	.286	.289	-.003	657
Alex Gordon	.271	.274	-.003	876
Michael Bourn	.272	.275	-.003	1000
Carlos Gonzalez	.298	.300	-.002	853
Prince Fielder	.286	.288	-.002	1045
Cody Asche	.246	.247	-.001	123
Nick Markakis	.285	.286	-.001	1212

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/14/2015.

Nobody has had more of a platoon split vs LH starters than Tampa Bay's new DH/emergency catcher John Jaso. Corey Dickerson, one of last season's biggest surprises, is right on his heels. Names that we would expect to see on this list such as Matt Joyce, Matt Adams, and Garrett Jones are not too far behind them. In fact, there are several big-name fantasy players on that list with noticeable splits, even in larger sample sizes such as Jason Heyward, Shin-Soo Choo and even Robinson Cano. Overall, the names on this list should not surprise you as it shows you why some of them are benched while others have issues with their overall batting average being dragged down by overexposure to left-handed pitching.The fortunes of both parties could change in 2015 because a quick look around the projected starting pitchers at RosterResource shows an overall scarcity of left-handed pitching. League-wide, there are 38 projected left-handed starting pitchers for opening day rosters. Last season, there were 49 lefties that started at least 10 games last season. Perhaps we could have a fourth-consecutive season of lefty scarcity, which may help the batters on this list do a little better while limiting the plate appearances for the guys on the short side of these platoon situations. That said, that will vary by division.The table below shows the number of projected starters within each division, keeping in mind a team plays nearly half of its schedule within their division.

TEAM	PROJ LHSP	TEAM	PROJ LHSP
ARZ	0	HOU	2
COL	2	LAA	3
LAD	3	OAK	2
SDP	0	SEA	2
SFG	1	TEX	2
CHC	2	CHW	3
CIN	1	CLE	0
MIL	0	DET	1
PIT	1	KCR	2
STL	0	MIN	1
ATL	2	BAL	1
MIA	0	BOS	1
NYM	1	NYY	1
PHI	1	TBR	1
WAS	1	TOR	1
TOTAL	15	TOTAL	23

You will notice that a heavy concentration of the lefty starters are out west, in both divisions. With every team in the AL West having multiple lefties, it helps cut down on the noise that is coming out about Matt Joyce playing every day as he has never hit lefties with any consistency. It could mean Robinson Cano's batting average is held down a bit because of exposure to multiple lefties, and the rebound season for Shin-Soo Choo should be tempered as he has historically struggled to hit lefties.Conversely, there is little left-handed starting pitching in either of the eastern divisions. If we look at Atlanta, this helps A.J. Pierzynski fight off father time but hurts Jonny Gomes who has done most of his damage against southpaws. Ryan Howard, assuming he stays put, won't have to face too many lefty starting pitchers within the division. In the AL East, this could allow for more plate appearances for players such as Garrett Jones, Kevin Kiermaier and David DeJesus (assuming he isn't traded out of the division in the coming weeks).