Brewer Righty/Lefty splits

[JohnBriggs12]

Brewer left handed hitters had the lowest BA (.237), SP (.370) and OPS (.691) and fewest HR (44) of any NL team.

 

Against RHP their OPS of .716 ranked in a tie for 11th in the NL. They also struck out an amazing 1,137 times vs. RHP

 

Conversely, Brewer RH hitters had the most HR in the NL (150) and ranked 5th in the NL with an OPS of .746. Against LHP the Brewers overall ranked 4th with an OPS of .764.

 

I realize there's sentiment that at this stage of a rebuild that focusing on better lineup balance is a low priority and there's some validity in that. But clearly, better production against RHP while maintaining that level of success vs. LHP would result in noticeable improvement overall. Hopefully some of that will come from improvement from the likes of Broxton and Santana who struggled vs. RHP. But they could use an upgrade over the likes of Nieuwenhuis and Flores who didn't fill the role of balancing the lineup.

 

Unfortunately they might have to look outside the organization for help as the top LH bat prospects are a few years away.

[tmwiese55]

Also relevant here is the team record.

 

vs RHP: 43-70

vs LHP: 30-19

[adambr2]

I think several of their recent drafts and trades have shown an emphasis on acquiring lefty bats. Other than Brinson, all the top bats in our pipeline (Ray, Clark, Phillips, Diaz), are lefty. Villar also looks like a long-term piece. I don't think there's a need right now to proactively look to acquire lefty bats, but if more such pieces come our way in a Braun or other deal, so be it.

[And That]

Stearns and Counsell spoke about this in the end of season press conference today, and acknowledged the Brewers' right-handedness. Counsell basically said he's looking for players that can hit right handed pitching, and he doesn't care which side of the plate they bat on, though subjectively lefties on righties make more sense. Stearns said that the Brewers are always looking to diversify their roster, in terms of left/right, type of athlete, etc.

 

So they are aware of it, but it didn't sound like it was a big priority to rectify in the near future. Team is still more concerned about acquiring talent than talent with such a specific trait.

[tmwiese55]

If they get Bellinger back from the Dodgers that addresses it right there assuming he eventually makes it along with one of the several lefty OFs in the systems.

[CheezWizHed]

JB makes a very good post that points out why having LH/RHB balance is pointless.

 

Our RH hitters hit the most HRs and had the 5th OPS in the NL. Predominately against RH pitchers. On a team that had the 9th worst record in MLB.

 

It also says that our RH hitters don't have a need for platoon splits (746 vs RHB, 764 vs LHB). We should be looking for more players like that (LH or RH).

 

Do we want to improve and get better hitters? Yes. The only time it really matters on LH vs RH is when a player has huge splits and you need to platoon him with another player (who generally also has huge splits the opposite direction). But if you want to really get better, its probably best just to find players that hit well off of LH and RH pitchers.

 

For situational hitting, you need some decent bench guys. But for the overall grind of 162 games, ignore the handedness and focus on getting good hitters (or pitchers for that matter).

[MadScientist]

It just means our left handed batters aren't very good. Of the lefties, Scooter had the best OPS vs RHP of only .733. Villar from the left side was .786.

 

Giving Broxton a shot full-time instead of platooning with Niewenhuis might improve their splits.

[FVBrewerFan]

It just means our left handed batters aren't very good. Of the lefties, Scooter had the best OPS vs RHP of only .733. Villar from the left side was .786.

 

Giving Broxton a shot full-time instead of platooning with Niewenhuis might improve their splits.

 

To take it one step further, it's not just LH bats, it's all the ABs from various guys being test driven, or fill-ins, etc.

 

I came up with 1,307 PA from players who will not be on the roster next season. (Lucroy, Rivera and Hill not included) That is over 300 full games played by the likes of Pressley, Flores, Elmore, Wilkins, Walsh, etc.

 

Think about that. That is the equivalent of having two horrible hitters in almost every game. So the answer is better hitters, RH or LH, and results vs RHP will improve.

[Outlander]

While doing the prospect rankings I saw how left handed hitting the future of this team is. While the likely #1 prospect Brinson is righty, the next top five positional players by many in Erceg, Ray, Phillips, Clark and Diaz all bat left handed. This lineup should be balanced in the next three years if things go as planned.

[MrTPlush]

While doing the prospect rankings I saw how left handed hitting the future of this team is. While the likely #1 prospect Brinson is righty, the next top five positional players by many in Erceg, Ray, Phillips, Clark and Diaz all bat left handed. This lineup should be balanced in the next three years if things go as planned.

 

Exactly I don't find this to be much of a concern in the long term. Id prefer a RH heavy batting order anyway. While having some lefties in the line-up is good too many or too many of your big time bats being lefty can create problems really fast. If we went into a playoffs series and had to face Bumgarner or Sale twice that isn't going to look great if 3/5 of our top hitters are lefties.

[Austin Tatious]

While doing the prospect rankings I saw how left handed hitting the future of this team is. While the likely #1 prospect Brinson is righty, the next top five positional players by many in Erceg, Ray, Phillips, Clark and Diaz all bat left handed. This lineup should be balanced in the next three years if things go as planned.

 

I was about to say the same thing. Although, that's still a couple of years out from fully materializing.