Pinch hitter question

I have Brett Gardner, good v righty but want pinch hitter v lefty. The pinch hitter I would want doesn’t play OF. I have been listing an OF as platoon PH, but should I leave it blank and have him listed as avoid lefty? This way they take my PH v lefty, then HAL picks a good fielder from bench?

I would suggest you make your own settings...Hal can be less then logical.

You can certainly do it the way you said, and sometimes Hal will do the sensible thing. But as Splinter pointed out, Hal can't really be trusted. I think there will be plenty of times Gardner ends up batting against a lefty reliever, and you'll be pulling your hair out. Only way to (virtually) guarantee that he gets pinch-hit for is to keep using the platoon PH system.

My understanding is that “avoid lefty” has an effect only if a player is on the bench. It won’t take Gardner out of the game.
Put your lefty killer PH in as the PH vs lefties in team strategy page. Then rely on Hal to take Gardner out in a crucial at bat toward end of game. I do that instead of a platoon with lefties since I don’t want the lefty starter out early in the game if a lefty is brought in by the other side.