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Originally posted by: chumdawg
Murph...intriguing, your comments about location to a left-handed hitter. I'm left-handed myself, and in my softball days anyway, I swung a pretty mean bat. Now, obviously, softball is miles away from baseball. But I've always been intrigued by discussion about differences in swings from one side of the plate to the other. I've never given any thought to the questions of location you have raised here. Is it primarily because of the way ballparks are often shorter in right field? I don't really get it.
But one thing I *have* given thought to is the belief there seems to be that lefties have "prettier" swings than righties. Logically, I can think of no reason why this would be the case.
Sorry to hijack this thread, if I have, but I have always been curious about the differences--if there are any--between left-handed and right-handed hitters.
Of course, other than the fact that lefties are smarter than righties, which we all know. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
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I don't know that there's really any anatomical difference that would cause a most lefties to be lowball hitters, but most are. Yes, I know it's a generalization, but it fits. Perhaps enjoying the inside pitch does have something to do with parks...Just in the AL alone, you have extremely short porches in Texas, Boston, and NY. NY's is borderline ridiculous.
But, that doesn't answer why lefties enjoy the low ball more than righties. The only things that I can think of is that it's probably a difference caused by the pitching that they face growing up. Perhaps the low ball is just easier to drive for a lefty coming from a right handed pitcher. The majority of the pitchers that you face growing up are right handed...this holds true even in the majors. So, perhaps it even has something to do with the way a fastball would come in to a left handed hitter from a right handed pitcher... It might be easier to hit down and in as compared to a righty hitting off of a righty.... It might even have something to do with the look that the batter gets. As a switch hitter, I know that it can be a little more difficult to pull the trigger on the inside pitch as a righty coming from a righty as opposed to a lefty hitting off of a righty. You get a very good look at the pitch as a lefty. As a righty pitching to a righty, it's easier to run the ball in onto their hands. You cut the fastball to get that little extra movement that'll make a decent pitch to a righty end up turning into a jam shot.
Hey, it's just a few ideas, but I'm sure all of it plays some role. As a righty, if you have a short and compact swing, it'll definitely allow you to turn on the inside pitch a little more. Watch Kevin Mench. It helps having short arms as well. You'd be amazed at the holes on the inner part of some of the right handed hitters swings that is caused in part because of arm length.