The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed by J.C. Bradbury Read Free Book Online

matters most in the matchups between pitchers and hitters. Typically, batters perform better against pitchers of the opposite hand, which is known as the “platoon advantage”—because two opposite-handed players on the same team sometimes take turns at a position based on the handedness of the pitcher. The handedness of players would probably be of very little interest in baseball if left- and right-handedness were equally distributed among the general population. Because humans tend to be right-hand dominant (87–90 percent of the population), this creates unique advantages and disadvantages in baseball. A left-handed hitter who is of equal hitting ability as a right-handed player is a more valuable offensive weapon than a righty because a left-handed hitter will have more opposite-hand at-bats than a right-hander, and will therefore produce more offense than a righty of equal hitting skill.
    Conversely, the advantage for pitchers would seem to be the exact opposite. Right-handed pitchers will face more same-handed at-bats than lefties, thereby reducing offense of the opposing team. However, because lefty batters and switch-hitters populate lineups at a rate greater than in the general population, left-handed pitchers are actually quite valuable commodities. Left-handed hitting is something that right-handed fielders can learn to do, while handedness in throwing is an inborn trait. In 2004, 14 percent of position players threw with their left hand, which is not much higher than the incidence of left-handedness in the general population. However, out of this same group of players, 45 percent had the ability to hit left-handed—29 percent were pure left-handed hitters, and 16 percent were switch-hitters. The platoon advantage has created a strategic use of left-handed pitchers in order to limit the effectiveness of left-handed batters. Many teams carry a “LOOGY,” which stands for Lefty–One–Out–GuY, on their rosters to use as a relief specialist against left-handed batters. In 2004, left-handers pitched to 27 percent of all batters faced. Due to their rarity in the general population, being left-handed in baseball, both as a hitter and as a pitcher, is generally considered to be a desirable trait. 15
    Handedness also plays an important role in fielding. The rules of the game dictate that players run the base path in a counterclockwise direction, which results in a high frequency of plays at first base. Due to the angle and distance at which the non–first basemen infielders must throw the ball to first base, right-handed infielders have an advantage in getting the ball to first. Therefore, the positions of second base, third base, and shortstop are almost exclusively manned by right-handers. As evidence, since the birth of the American League in 1901, a left-hander has played second base 86 times, third base 55 times, and
shortstop 8 times. 16 Handedness poses no such advantage/disadvantage in the outfield or first base, and players of either hand play these positions.
    But now we reach the curiosity of the catcher. The catcher doesn’t face the same problem with fielding the ball that the other infielders do. In fact, a catcher who is left-handed will have an easier time making a throw to first base on a bunt than a right-hander. Yet left-handers have not played catcher with any more frequency than the other infield positions. Table 2 lists every player and the number of games he’s played at catcher by team and season since 1901. Jiggs Donohue is the only player who has logged any significant time at catcher, playing in two-thirds of the sixty-three total games in which a left-hander has played catcher. Since 1905 only four left-handed players have played catcher.

Poor Excuses for Right-Handed Catcher Bias
    I listen closely when I hear commentators discuss their explanations for the lack of left-handed catchers. Here are some that I find unconvincing.
    • A quickly thrown baseball will fade in the