Monday, October 19, 2009

Does Jimmy Rollins Have More Pop As A Left-Handed Batter?

One of the announcers last night, I think it was Buck Martinez, said that Rollins did. If I recall correctly, it was because he hit more HRs as a lefty this past season. He did hit 14 HRs vs. righties (when bats left-handed) and 7 vs. lefties. But, as many fans know, he also faced righties alot more. Here are his HR%'s vs. lefties and righties this year:

vs. lefties (as a right-handed batter) 4.02%
vs. righties (as a left-handed batter) 2.81%

Now for his entrire career.

vs. lefties (as a right-handed batter) 2.83%
vs. righties (as a left-handed batter) 2.33%

So it looks like he actually has more HR power as a right-handed batter, although it is pretty close for his entire career. Another way to look at "pop" is to use isolated power or SLG - AVG. Here are his 2009 figures:

vs. lefties (as a right-handed batter) .195
vs. righties (as a left-handed batter) .165

Now for his whole career.

vs. lefties (as a right-handed batter) .168
vs. righties (as a left-handed batter) .163

So, it looks like he has more power as a right-handed batter (but again, the edge is slight for his whole career). I don't think this is sabermetrics. I think it is just arithmetic. But it seems like announcer make this mistake alot when talking about lefty/righty stats. They look at raw totals instead of percentages, forgetting that there are fewer lefty pitchers than righties.

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