Smallball & Handedness

[GREGGZILIANI]

I was giving some thought about handedness and smallball. If guys on a smallball team are rated fairly even against RHP and LHP, how much of a difference does it make if they are RH hitters or LH hitters. I know there are righty killers and lefty killers out there, but does having too many RH or LH hitters make that big a difference? I figured it would have a much greater effect on masher teams, but I wanted to get some thought on this.

[egvrich]

If you go all righty for example, a team full of tough righties could, in theory, completely shut down your offense.

And, if you are playing smallball, every run counts.

All E rated hitters is fine, but I would have at least 4 LH bats in your lineup.

[GREGGZILIANI]

I see your point Rich, but if the team is balanced against LHP and RHP, and roughly 50% of the rolls are on the hitter card, does it really make that much of a difference?

I guess Im trying to postulate that handedness is overrated and that balance is much more important. But then again, I could be totally off-base.

[goffchile]

If you go to diamonddope.com and enter some E rated hitters, you will notice that even those hitters slightly favor (usually) the opposite arm pitcher. It seems like its kind of a default that most hitters slightly prefer the opposite arm. Even if you have a mostly E team, it is good to mix-up left and right a bit because that will prevent the other team from using a unbalanced pitcher (righty, with a 4R rating for example) to create mismatches. Your right, half the outcomes come from your card, but half come from the others card if you have an all righty team, a 4R pitcher will perform much better against it than if you have a mixed bag. It can also push HAL to make pitching changes on the other team to avoid mismatches.

[ADRIANGABRIEL]

I always enjoy seeing a plug for diamonddope...

I think the best argument for having lefty hitters in your lineup has to do with relief pitchers. There are 73 right-handed relief pitchers, 63% (46 total) have a right-leaning balance. Guys like Pina, Lasher, Garman, Osinski, and Miller would mow down an all-righty lineup. Throw some lefty hitters in there and you have a better chance of getting to that righty dominant pitcher.

Starting pitchers are not so pronounced. There are 237 righty starters, only 39% have a right-leaning balance. 42% are even.

I never feel good about a lineup that has fewer than 3 lefties.

[Palanion]

I never considered it all statistically the way Adrian lays it out there, but I often find myself specifically conscious of having righties on my team... somehow I favor lefties, and this may have to do with the preponderance of RHP.
That and being a lifelong Red Sox fan - favoring LH hitters
And having had many teams in Y56 - favoring LH hitters, affecting RHP.....

Anyway, I don't mind having a big leaner (4R example), but I try to stray from having an overload of leaners. Unless I can justify with platoons. AND... a leaner better have power. A leaner with good OBP and no power means very little to me - again unless it fits perfectly in a platoon.

[egvrich]

[quote:0f1d67f917="agabriel"]I always enjoy seeing a plug for diamonddope....[/quote:0f1d67f917]

And well you should Adrian, we all owe you a big thanks!

[egvrich]

With hitters, I prefer to have 3-4 RH and 4-5 LH, my rule is when all else fails have more LH than RH batters.

With pitcher, I generallly go with 3 RHP's and 1 LHP, unless the division or league dictate more lefties.

[Frank Bailey]

I agree with the arguments toward seeking balance in the lineup, but in my experience, you are more likely to get away with six RH hitters in the lineup in a smallball park than in a homer dome.

[The Last Druid]

Only a very small pct. of my teams have more than 4 righty bats vs. right-handed pitching. Probably about a handful and those most likely in Minnesota or LA 65. I suspect that the ideal situation is to have 3-4 righties, 3 lefties and 1-2 switch hitters. But most managers don't follow this philosophy and I clean up with the Hunters and Merritts of the game. 8)