Expert: Steve L - 4/20/2004

Question
Steve,your direction to the ESPN site did the trick.  It was easier than you had anticipated, as it gave totals for teams.  I looked at each of the major league teams for the 2003 season for a righthanded and lefthanded pitching splits, noted the differances between the two, then averaged the differences for all 30 teams.  It came out to 0.014, about what I expected - not a reason for Jim Tracy to bench his leadoff hitter, or take out a pitcher who is being effective.  I'm attaching my Table, so hopefully the word will get out to managers so they can come up with something more important to base decisions on.  Thanks, Bill
RIGHTY-LEFTY DIFFERENCE
Combined Batting Averages for All Major League Teams – 2003
Showing How Much Difference the Right-Left Matchups Make
Derived from http://sports.espn.go.com/mlbhist/teams/batting?team=tor&season=2003&split=32&se

CONCLUSION: A MANAGER GAINS AN OVERALL ADVANTAGE OF 0.014 BY CHANGING A BATTER OR PITCHER TO ACHIEVE A RIGHTHANDED- LEFTHANDED MATCHUP

        TEAM      VS RIGHT        Vs LEFT     DIFFERENCE   
Dodgers   .238   .258   .020   
Giants   .257   .285   .028   
Padres   .263   .255   .008   
Diamondbacks   .264   .261   .003   
Rockies   .256   .297   .041   
Cubs   .254   .276   .022   
Cards   .277   .283   .006   
Astros   .258   .283   .025   
Brewers   .258   .253   .005   
Braves   .281   .284   .003   
Marlins   .258   .290   .032   
Pirates   .273   .253   .020   
Phillies   .261   .262   .001   
Mets   .250   .239   .011   
A's   .257   .247   .010   
Mariners   .266   .284   .028   
Angels   .269   .269   .001   
Rangers   .268   .261   .007   
White Sox   .259   .274   .015   
Indians   .256   .248   .008   
Tigers   .238   .244   .006   
Yankees   .273   .265   .008   
Red Sox   .290   .285   .005   
Twins   .287   .255   .022   
Orioles   .265   .274   .009   
Reds   .250   .232   .018   
Royals   .269   .285   .016   
Expos   .255   .266   .011   
Devil Rays   .265   .267   .002   
Blue Jays   .274   .292   .018   
Average Difference 30 Teams          .01363 ~ .014
         
         
         


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Followup To
Question -
Can you find,or develop, a stat that shows what the average batting average for the major leagues was for a year or more for Righthanded Batters vs Righthanded Pitchers, Righty vs Lefty, Lefty vs Righty, and Lefty vs Lefty?

So much of the strategy of major league managers and broadcasters is grounded in this factor, and I suspect that it is really a very minor advantage, like about .015, but I need some backup data.

Thanks, Bill
Answer -
This link

         http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/statistics

will show lefty/righty performance for individual players, but I'm not aware of a source that will summarize it for an entire league.  You may have to select individual players, then aggregate the stats to arrive at a total for the team and the league.

Example: Here are the stats for the left-hand-hitting Barry Bonds

         http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits3?
         statsId=3918&type=batting
showing that over the last three years, he hit .351 against left-handers and .342 against righties. A virtual wash.

Sammy Sosa, a right-hand batter, has hit .361 against lefties and .285 against righties -- a significant, and I think, more common difference.

I'm afraid that ESPN site is the best I can do.

Answer
Bill: I'm glad you found what you were looking for, but I don't think it answers your original question: The tables you posted only show what an entire TEAM did against lefty and righty pitchers.  It doesn't take into account the
breakdown of lefty/righty BATTERS on the hitting team.

Example:  The Dodgers hit 20 points higher against lefties, while the Pirates hit 20 points higher against righties.  My guess is that the Dodgers have more righty batters in their lineup than lefties, while the Pirates probably have more lefty batters than righties.

If I understand your question, you need to look at ALL lefty and righty batters separately, and then see how each group did against lefty pitchers, and separately, against righty PITCHERS.