Broken Bat - Discussion Forum: Thinking about LHPs

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Post ID	Date & Time	Game Date

#58736	05/19/2018 10:09:14 pm	Mar 18th, 2036
Garnash1970 Joined: 08/07/2014 Posts: 199 Inactive	A long time ago, I wrote a post regarding lefties and how I had been successful with them as my starters. My comments were more or less dismissed because I was still working my way up the ladder. Well, I am about to begin my second season in Legends. I won the Cup in 2030. My pitching has been dominated by left handed pitchers. I usually start 4 of 5 lefties. If you take the time to look back through the seasons, Monterey has almost always allowed the FEWEST HRs in whatever league or level I play in (which is good, cuz my boys don't hit a lot of homers, either!). I recall a seminal moment when MrTwoPlums made some comment to me about the importance of defense to his run of success and I have done my best to put the best D behind my pitchers as possible. High range, high fielding (except corner OF) ... arm is a bit less important except at a couple of spots (SS, C & RF). I think it important to judge performance accurately and since keeping the ball IN the park is one of my goals, my stadium is HUGE. I also pay attention to each pitcher's home-run allowed rate and I make a point of dumping the pitchers that surrender a lot of dingers. My LHPs have three Cy Youngs over the seasons. Countless all-star appearances and many all-league awards. Clearly, it is not a simple matter of identifying righty=good and lefty=bad. As long as this lazy perception persists (nice alliteration, huh?!) I will continue to pick up guys off waivers that can kick ass. I am not sure if there was point in time when the game engine did favor RHP, but it sure doesn't anymore. I believe the single most important factor in a pitcher's success is control. COS and MOV are interchangeable to me, in that at least one of them needs to be high (15+). Velocity is the least important and in fact probably drives the home-run against rate more than anything else. Unless having a P with 240 Ks is your goal, despite giving up 37 dingers and your team finishing 24 games out of first. Anyway, this is a topic near and dear to me and I LOVE seeing LHP ... especially on waivers. BTW - this is not a bias thing, I myself am a righty and I gave up some prodigious blasts in my rather short pitching career! So, good luck, go with what works for you, but I do suggest experimenting with an open mind.

#58738	05/20/2018 12:37:23 am	Mar 18th, 2036
wil_m Joined: 01/08/2016 Posts: 248 Inactive	@ Garnash1970 Thank you for this excellent post! I appreciate the experience and wisdom that you share!

#58742	05/20/2018 9:19:04 am	Mar 18th, 2036
lostraven Joined: 07/02/2016 Posts: 1269 Corvallis Ravens II.1	Yeah, I remember your LHP post. I'm still highly skeptical of them, but I don't automatically dismiss them, where I may have playing this game early on. I have several lefties moving up from the minors. They will be on short-ish leashes, but I'll give them a fair shake: * Connor Carrier: Hoping for more Control with those last five or six SI points. Not sure if he'll cut it though. * Bae Hwang: Only kept him because he was a 13 POT. Rough intro to the bigs. Still room for 10 to 12 SI, and has had encouraging Spring Training. His build may be one of those lefties you like. Lefty relief for the immediate short term. * Clint Matson: Minor league results have been complete garbage, but he hasn't been cut because 13 POT. Probably too much velocity for your liking; definitely giving up HR. Will probably continue to be patient with him for another season or two, but my optimism is tempered. * Ronnie Davidson: 12-claim waiver win. Mixed feelings about him because on the surface, stats say he was worth dumping. But I like the GB/FB despite the poor vs. LHP. Maybe a fluke but had best time vs. LHP on my team last season. We'll see how this reliever shakes out. * Nwankwo Oyekan: Still a ways away, but mentioning him anyway. Huge question mark for me. Strike percentage and GB rates not where I'd want them to be. Could be another homer-happy lefty. But too early to speculate. All that said, grats on making lefties work for you. I still analyze them with a more critical eye, but they're not totally dismissed like I used to do with them.

#58744	05/20/2018 12:27:16 pm	Mar 18th, 2036
newtman Joined: 11/02/2013 Posts: 3343 Inactive	I actually fully endorse Garnash's position, as my team has been anchored by a lefty ace and has trotted out multiple lefty starters over the past several seasons. While one could dismiss my endorsement due to my demotion last season from Legends, it is worth noting that once again I led Legends East (which had far more powerful bats including Margate) in fewest homers allowed. I only demoted due to everything that broke in my favor in version 1 of 2035 breaking against me in version 2. I also completely agree with Garnash's assessment that COS is interchangeable with movement and the devaluing of velocity. While I do believe that having RHPs who can match-up against great RH hitters is important, lefties are way undervalued by several very successful owners in my opinion.

#58745	05/20/2018 1:05:57 pm	Mar 18th, 2036
Haselrig Joined: 04/13/2014 Posts: 2790 Novi Doubledays III.4	Same here. I've used a lot of LHP over the years. Both starters and relievers. By far my current worst HRs against P is a righty.

#58748	05/20/2018 2:38:22 pm	Mar 19th, 2036
Geech Joined: 01/12/2014 Posts: 546 San Luis Obispo Turtles IV.8	Well, I've been guilty of this thought process on LHPs myself, and this have given me something to think about. Thanks for sharing.