Talk:Left-handed specialist

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Since most pitchers are right-handed, left-handed batters naturally have fewer at-bats against, and therefore less experience with, left-handed pitchers.

Eh? This is true for right-handed batters as well as left, shhurely? Why is it particularly important for left-handeders? Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 14:46, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I'm not familiar with baseball either, but my guess is that the combination of the two factors mentioned (inexperience, different side of mound) occurs only when both batter and pitcher are left handed. In any case it isn't clear from what's stated, and someone who is in the know should fix it. -- Arvindn 15:53, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

In general, it's easier for right-handers to hit left-handed pitching and left-handers to hit right-handers because of the favourable trajectory of the ball from the pitcher's hand. The only reason we see more left-handed specialists than right-handed specialists is because of familiarity. The average batter will have 70-80% of their plate appearances against right-handed pitchers. Righties therefore get more experience against pitchers with the "sweeping" motion across the plate, and more chance to adjust, whereas lefties may only see a handful of at-bats against pitchers pitching from that side every week. Guess I should write that into the article, huh? -- Matty j 20:33, Mar 5, 2004 (UTC)

Also, why does the article say that Left-handed pitchers also pitch from a different side of the pitcher's mound and therefore their pitches tend to have a more sweeping effect across the plate.? Isn't the baseball field symmetrical? silsor 19:27, Mar 5, 2004 (UTC)

The field may be symmetrical but the pitcher isn't. Assuming the pitcher is throwing from the middle of the pitching rubber (sometimes they don't), a pitch thrown by a left-hander will tend to have some left-to-right motion (as seen from the pitcher's viewpoint) and thus be moving slightly away from a left-handed batter, or towards a right-handed batter. A pitch moving away from the batter is considered to be somewhat more difficult to hit, thus a left handed pitcher's supposed advantage against left-handed batters. BTW: I have never heard the term LOOGY before. Is this a joke? - Rbs 19:50, 2004 Mar 5 (UTC)

LOOGY seems ok according to Google. Surely left-to-left is symmetric to right-to-right from a ball movement point of view... but maybe both of those are harder on the batter than left-to-right and right-to-left? Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 19:52, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Left-to-left is symmetric to right-to-right, but that then gets back to the issue that there are fewer left-hander pitchers for left-handed batters to face. - Rbs 20:23, 2004 Mar 5 (UTC)

Exactly. Left-to-right and right-to-left is, in general (with the exclusion of Al Leiter, Mariano Rivera and a handful of others), the best situation for a hitter. There are right-handed specialists, but most right-handed batters have learned how to deal with the difference in the trajectory of the ball out of a right-handed pitcher's hand through sheer experience, whereas left-handed batters do not see as many left-handed pitchers. Also, left-handed specialists often spend time specifically devoted to developing pitchs which are even more "sweeping" across the plate to exploit this weakness. It's sort of a self-feeding mechanism that way. It could go the other way, and does occasionally, but it will never be as easy to exploit as the other way around. -- Matty j 20:33, Mar 5, 2004 (UTC)

Great explanation, thanks Matty and others. COuld you maybe tidy the article a bit, just to make it clearer for us people who know a lot less about the game. Thanksa again. Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 20:36, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)