Where have all the opposing lefty pitchers gone?

[Maxbialystock]

In trying to explain why Farrell has played Young, I discovered two fascinating stats about this team in this so far very young season (which means things could change).

 

The first is that opposing managers appear to be terrified of sending lefties in against the Sox as starters or relievers. Betts, for example, has faced lefties in 6% (7 of 109) of his at bats, Pedroia about the same. Even Shaw, who has seen the highest percentage of lefties, still sees righties 80% of the time.

 

The second is that every single member of the regular lineup--Betts, Pedroia, Bogaerts, Ortiz, Ramirez, Shaw, Holt, both catchers, and Bradley--hits righties better than they hit lefties. Betts, granted, only hits righties slightly better--OPS 795 vs. 714. And Ortiz hits both sides well--over .800 against lefties and over 1.000 against righties. But almost everyone else hits righties three times as well as they hit lefties--like Pedroia, whose OPS against righties is .885 and against lefties .286.

 

Someone else might have the answer on why this is so, but I can only offer three possibilities: 1) season is young and the righty pitchers will eventually get good against our lineup; 2) lefty pitchers are a dying breed; 3) lefty pitchers are alive and well but by happenstance haven't faced us yet.

 

Let me add about our lineup is that we rarely have more than 4 lefty batters--Ortiz, Shaw, Holt, and Bradley. Of the remaining five lineup slots, all righties, four are in the top five slots--leading off with Betts, Pedroia, and Bogaerts with Ramirez betting right behind Ortiz in the 5th slot. In other words, this Sox lineup practically demands a righty starter--except of course that all of our righty regulars hit righties better than lefties.

[sk7326]

It's May 1 ... lots of games for it to catch up. Splits themselves can be deceiving just because of the sheer number of at-bats the guys have had against lefties to this point. Indeed, the career splits have much more validity.

[Maxbialystock]

It's May 1 ... lots of games for it to catch up. Splits themselves can be deceiving just because of the sheer number of at-bats the guys have had against lefties to this point. Indeed, the career splits have much more validity.

 

You are certainly right about splits against lefties. But the Sox have accumulated somewhere around 700 or 800 at bats against righties , which ain't exactly infinitesimal. They pounded more righties again tonight.

[SinceYaz]

Max,

 

We've faced a few lefties, but the Yanquis have faced like 10 or 11 lefty starters and Skipper Joe was wondering out loud before the 2nd game at the Fens why they are facing so many. He too thought maybe it would balance out over the long haul, but right now they have had their fill of lefties ... poor little fellas.

[User Name]

It's May 1 ... lots of games for it to catch up. Splits themselves can be deceiving just because of the sheer number of at-bats the guys have had against lefties to this point. Indeed, the career splits have much more validity.

 

25 game sample. And compared to the career numbers of the Red Sox as a team, that's not even statistically significant.

[Bellhorn04]

There are very few lefty starters on other teams in the AL East. Yanks have CC, Jays have Happ, not sure if there are any others.

[sk7326]

You are certainly right about splits against lefties. But the Sox have accumulated somewhere around 700 or 800 at bats against righties , which ain't exactly infinitesimal. They pounded more righties again tonight.

 

What I was saying is that proof of a reverse split using season numbers is basically non existent

[Maxbialystock]

I agree with those who say the sample is small, so just let me add that so far our righty-dominated lineup is handling righty pitchers pretty well. My goodness, last night Vazquez hit a crucial 2 run dinger against a very good reliever, a righty of course, named Betances.

 

As for Girardi, he might not like facing lefties, but his guys killed Price last night.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Maxbialystock

[Bellhorn04]

Regardless of sample size, it is a fact that we will be facing a relatively small % of lefty pitchers because of the composition of AL East staffs. Last year the Sox faced lefties only 28% over the entire season.

[User Name]

In terms of Young's deployment issues, it would have been much easier to handle and justify had Rusney not s*** the bed and forced Holt into starting duty.