We're putting something together about this. Thanks for the question.Why are LH hitters considered to be low-ball specialists?
As a throw right/bat left player my whole life (played through college), and definitely a low ball hitter, everything that follows here is completely anecdotal and full of bias, but...If you want to sort the players we'd be more than happy to look into it.
Why do you think the throwing hand matters?
That's exactly where I was going. Thanks for explaining it so well.As a throw right/bat left player my whole life (played through college), and definitely a low ball hitter, everything that follows here is completely anecdotal and full of bias, but...
As a right hand dominant batter from the left side, your dominant hand is obviously your bottom one. As such, the natural tendency is to "pull" the bat through the zone, and the natural weight of the bat and the weaker top hand means that the barrel comes through level with, or lower than the hands, with a bit of lag. That makes it very difficult to get to pitches that are high in the zone, but very naturally covers the low end.
With a right hand dominant, righty batter, the dominant top hand leads to a swing that is a bit more like swinging an axe, starting high and driving down and through the ball/tree. A strong top hand controls the head of the bat more, leading to a level, or slightly down, swing, as opposed to an uppercut.
An easy way to feel this is to take one-handed swings on a tee, or soft-toss. Swing with the bat in your right hand from the left side and you can feel how easily the barrel drops. If you switch to one-handed swings from the right side, it feels very comfortable to drive down on the ball, partly because your hand is 4-5 inches higher up the bat.
The B-Ref batting "season finder" lets you specify batting side and throwing hand - an easy place to get a list of Bat L/throw R and Bat L/throw L guys.Off the top of my head ... I can pull our switch-hitters easily enough, but not sure that Pitchfx has enough info for cross-dominance, so we'd need to cross-reference another database which always risks introducing errors. I can look into it though.
Thanks, I've saved those and when I have time will take a look at their batting preferences.The B-Ref batting "season finder" lets you specify batting side and throwing hand - an easy place to get a list of Bat L/throw R and Bat L/throw L guys.
Here's 2015 Bat L / Throw R: http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=pV4ko
And 2015 Bat L / Throw L: http://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/share.cgi?id=b89hF
I think you've got it. Most left handed hitters are still right handed overall, so the stronger right hand/arm dominates. After that, the reasons you gave make sense, plus, the right arm is lower than the left anyway, so it can more easily guide the bat down to low balls and hit them hard, vs. RHHs going down after low balls with a weaker left hand.As a right hand dominant batter from the left side, your dominant hand is obviously your bottom one. As such, the natural tendency is to "pull" the bat through the zone, and the natural weight of the bat and the weaker top hand means that the barrel comes through level with, or lower than the hands, with a bit of lag. That makes it very difficult to get to pitches that are high in the zone, but very naturally covers the low end.
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The article on the .com linked above concluded "Looking at these charts, we can’t see anything in the numbers that would make us declare that left-handed hitters are better at inside and low pitches than their right-handed counterparts. This looks like a case that combines selective memory and repeated claims without evidence."I think you've got it. Most left handed hitters are still right handed overall, so the stronger right hand/arm dominates. After that, the reasons you gave make sense, plus, the right arm is lower than the left anyway, so it can more easily guide the bat down to low balls and hit them hard, vs. RHHs going down after low balls with a weaker left hand.
I didn't know it was non-existent because I didn't read everything in the thread. My bad. It still is surprising to me that the data came out equal because it is a non-symmetrical situation, i.e. LHHs mostly have their dominant hand on the bottom of the bat and RHHs do not. Maybe at the major league level, all hitters, whether right or left handed, have to be able to hit the low pitch, so the asymmetric part goes away. Joe Morgan would still like to come back and argue.The article on the .com linked above concluded "Looking at these charts, we can’t see anything in the numbers that would make us declare that left-handed hitters are better at inside and low pitches than their right-handed counterparts. This looks like a case that combines selective memory and repeated claims without evidence."
Why are you trying come up with explanations for an apparently non-existent phenomenon?
Not to answer for the poster above, but in my initial post I was responding to the initial question, which was asking about low pitches, not necessarily down and in. And I would argue that the phenomenon (the theory that LH batters are better low ball hitters) does exist, it just may not exist in terms of results. So, some of us are trying to explain why the theory persists.The article on the .com linked above concluded "Looking at these charts, we can’t see anything in the numbers that would make us declare that left-handed hitters are better at inside and low pitches than their right-handed counterparts. This looks like a case that combines selective memory and repeated claims without evidence."
Why are you trying come up with explanations for an apparently non-existent phenomenon?