Fun With Left-Handers
What started off as a quick look into how the Los Angeles Dodgers have fared against left-handers this season turned into some fun discoveries from around MLB.
I went down the MLB rabbit hole, folks. After a long offseason of the same old stats, I’ve missed delving into statistics that are fresh and changing daily. Heck, the Cubs and Pirates are playing right now so they’re changing as I type.
While I awaited the official news on Jon Gray and how long he may be out after re-aggrevating a toe injury that he suffered during spring training, I decided to look at the Rockies upcoming schedule and saw that Gray’s next scheduled start would come against the Dodgers, who were notably terrible against left-handers last season. Could this be an opportunity to shove a lefty onto the mound in an effort to get a spot start win in Los Angeles?
That’s when the rabbit hole opened.
Over at FanGraphs I started looking at their splits leaderboards, and the Washington Nationals are destroying left-handed pitching through the first two weeks of the season, accumulating a wRC+ of 292 through just 24 plate appearances (complete with a 1.373 OPS), while the Mets place second at 174 with 141 plate appearances, fourth-most in baseball. The Mets early sample will be a little easier to rely upon moving forward.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
Because I was already interested in the Rockies and their stat lines, I looked up their wRC+ and they rank 24th in MLB at 68. Why is this significant? Because last night in the start that Gray left early, they were facing one of the most dominant left-handers in the game in Madison Bumgarner and came away with a 3-1 victory. Baseball is funny like that.
This may come as a “no duh” statement, but I still find it fairly interesting. The team that has the highest strikeout percentage against lefties, the Milwaukee Brewers at 30.9 percent in 94 plate appearances, have a 112 wRC+. The team with the second-highest K% is Pittsburgh (30.1%) and they have a wRC+ of 45. Small samples provide funny little clusters like that.
The same quirkiness holds true at the other end of the K% leaderboard, with the Reds (12.9), White Sox (13.0) and Blue Jays (13.5) having the lowest strikeout percentages, which is good, and having wRC+ of 137, 169 and 120. The fourth-lowest K% belongs to the Seattle Mariners at 14.7, and their wRC+ stands at a whopping 16, 84 percent below league average.
If you switch over to walk percentages, the one number that stands out is 0. That’s how many walks the Atlanta Braves have drawn against left-handers this season through 36 plate appearances.
While it’s still early, the Mariners’ early struggles against southpaws may be something to keep an eye on moving forward. They’ve had just 34 plate appearances this season, but are 3-for-34 (.103) so far with a .339 OPS. Their team average, OBP, OPS and wRC+ all rank last in baseball entering play on Friday. Their BABIP (batting average on balls in play) also ranks last at .125, so this could just be the numbers needing to even out a bit, which comes through more and more at-bats.
Next: Donaldson Injury Compounds Jays' Poor Start
Anyway, this is what I found interesting in looking at the leaderboards entering the weekend. If you’re still wondering about the Dodgers, they’re not the worst team in the league against lefties, but they rank 22nd and hold a 73 wRC+, so there is still plenty of room for improvement.