 | Your Junk my Happy Zone | |
| by Brandon Corbett |
We compare everything around here: years, fields, teams, players, designs, colors, penises... How is it possible that we have never set left next to right to answer an ancient, troubling question of the game: why do some players bat from the wrong side of the plate? Is there a quantifiable advantage to the ass-backward mechanics and starting two feet closer to first base?
To find out once and for all I took the career stats (hits, total bases, and at bats) for all seasoned WSEM players, tallied them up by side of the plate,* calculated the average and slugging percentage for each, then compared the results.
John "Sharlow" Sharlow bats left-handed.
Ryan "Ryan A" Alexia bats right-handed.
No big surprise here, just some table setting. We know lefties are the rare breed, but now we see they are outnumbered by slightly less than 4.5 to 1. This is actually a little closer than I expected, as it sees them representing 18.7% of WSEM players.
Lefties strike first, hitting for average. The .007 advantage may seem quaint, but at a 2.7% margin is actually fairly significant. Both the best (.559) and worst (.083) performing lefties also beat out the respective ceiling (.540) and cellar (.035) from the right-handed side to make it an even more decided advantage.
Righties strike back in the power game, and do so by a much wider spread: .027, representing a 6.5% margin. The low end for both sides remains the same as average, however, the top performing righty now outperforms his lefty counterpart by over one-hundred points, 1.161 to 1.059. There is a definitive advantage here.
The disparity in offensive awards seems the most lopsided, and while it is "advantage righties," it is a much closer margin than 11-to-2 first appears. Remember that lefties represent just 18.7% of the league, and thus play with that percentage chance of winning any award. They have managed to win 15.4% of the offensive-focused Handies, a falloff of only 3.3%. For those keeping score, on the flip side that means righties, who make up 81.7% of the league, have taken home 84.6% of the awards.
So, where does this leave us: lefties make better contact? Righties have more power? Award nominations are dominated by a biased right-handed conglomerate? Perhaps, apparently, andthat's the way it should be! be careful making such lofty accusations are the respective answers there.
We may get mixed results when breaking down production, but the titular question is, "which is really the right side of the plate?" Well, the right side clearly is not always the right side. Additionally, at the risk of unsettling the ghost of Gerry Bertier, the left side is not the strong side. So... push. Both sides seem to have some claim to the qualification. It may need to be decided one day on one field. Who wants to see a "Lefty-Star vs. Righty-Star Game" to settle things once and for all?
* Switch hitters were placed onto the side from which they are most frequently seen batting.
To find out once and for all I took the career stats (hits, total bases, and at bats) for all seasoned WSEM players, tallied them up by side of the plate,* calculated the average and slugging percentage for each, then compared the results.
John "Sharlow" Sharlow bats left-handed.
Ryan "Ryan A" Alexia bats right-handed.
| 17 | PLAYERS | 74 |
No big surprise here, just some table setting. We know lefties are the rare breed, but now we see they are outnumbered by slightly less than 4.5 to 1. This is actually a little closer than I expected, as it sees them representing 18.7% of WSEM players.
| .266 | AVERAGE | .259 |
Lefties strike first, hitting for average. The .007 advantage may seem quaint, but at a 2.7% margin is actually fairly significant. Both the best (.559) and worst (.083) performing lefties also beat out the respective ceiling (.540) and cellar (.035) from the right-handed side to make it an even more decided advantage.
| .416 | SLUGGING % | .443 |
Righties strike back in the power game, and do so by a much wider spread: .027, representing a 6.5% margin. The low end for both sides remains the same as average, however, the top performing righty now outperforms his lefty counterpart by over one-hundred points, 1.161 to 1.059. There is a definitive advantage here.
| 2 | MVPs, RotYs, Batting Champs, & HR Kings |
11 |
The disparity in offensive awards seems the most lopsided, and while it is "advantage righties," it is a much closer margin than 11-to-2 first appears. Remember that lefties represent just 18.7% of the league, and thus play with that percentage chance of winning any award. They have managed to win 15.4% of the offensive-focused Handies, a falloff of only 3.3%. For those keeping score, on the flip side that means righties, who make up 81.7% of the league, have taken home 84.6% of the awards.
So, where does this leave us: lefties make better contact? Righties have more power? Award nominations are dominated by a biased right-handed conglomerate? Perhaps, apparently, and
We may get mixed results when breaking down production, but the titular question is, "which is really the right side of the plate?" Well, the right side clearly is not always the right side. Additionally, at the risk of unsettling the ghost of Gerry Bertier, the left side is not the strong side. So... push. Both sides seem to have some claim to the qualification. It may need to be decided one day on one field. Who wants to see a "Lefty-Star vs. Righty-Star Game" to settle things once and for all?
* Switch hitters were placed onto the side from which they are most frequently seen batting.
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