navier wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2024 9:43 am
You didn't ruin anything, I was just trying to follow along in the thread and quoting what you are referring to helps with that..
Yes quantitatively some stats are certainly different in softball vs MLB. If you can give a reason other than what I referred to regarding LHP being an advantage then I am all ears..
My thoughts about LH vs RH pitching differs from yours. I see things this way.
I think LH pitchers are usually better than RH pitchers against LH hitters because of the
sweeping curve ball (breaking away from the hitter) that some lefties can throw. Especially against slappers. A good sweeping curveball just neutralizes a LH hitter and requires a guess as if it is going to be a strike or a ball. A LH can "foul" it off to stay alive but at some point they take a pitch. If it is a strike, they are out or a strike deeper in the count. (I have never understodd what I hitter can "just foul it off" vs just hit it, but who knows.) If a LH pitcher does not have that "sweeper" they really do not have a great advantage.
It is rare when a RH pitcher has that type of a
sweeping curve ball that can be thrown vs RH hitters. It seems to me it is a LH Pitchers pitch much more than a RH Pitchers pitch.
In each case, a LH Pitcher or a RH Pitcher must get the batter out that are on the opposite side of the plate. For a LH Pitcher, facing many more RH hitters, especially with power, they cannot miss over the plate with that curve ball or a rise ball as it will be a HR or EBH quickly. For a RH Pitcher, a curve ball or a rise ball left over the plate to a LH hitter (probably greater than 50% are slappers still) is just a single or a double at most. That is what makes LH Hitters with power so special as they change that single to a double and that double to a HR on those fat curve balls.
The best pitch a pitcher has against power RH hitters is a RH screw ball or a LH drop ball inside to the hitter. The screw jams them in on the hands and the inside drop just drives the ball into the ground. Most RH hitters do not hit the ball down and in well, and not for power. The opposite is true for some reason for LH hitters. Most power hitting LH batters hit the ball very well inside and down. It is the LH hitters spot you avoid as a RH pitcher.
What made Jordy Bahl so good was this. She had a RH screw ball that was as efecctive against a RH hitter as it was against a LH hitter. When she was on, it was not hit and she could throw it for strikes or just off the plate anytime she needed to. She also had the straight drop and could spot that pitch inside or outside to both sides of the plate. Then when you were looking for those pitches as a hitter she just threw a rise ball past you just above the hitting zone. OR she could throw her "sweeping curve ball" to a RH pitcher and get her on the outside.
The keys are always 1) movement away, 2) movement in and 3) movement down. The rise ball is a tool but it is a pitch "everyone has even without the perfect spin". A fast ball up that does not drop is just about as good as a rise ball in most cases. To throw it in the upper hapf of the hitting zone does require a good rise though. Montana Fouts had one of those really good rises.
My thoughts only....
That said