Left-handed catchers
The sporting-goods companies are still turning out catcher’s mitts for left-handers, but their market is just for the kids. No big leaguers, because there aren’t any left-handed catchers in the big leagues. Never were very many; now, none.
I can remember a couple — fill-ins, though, not regulars or even second-stringers. But not for a long time. Maybe, I thought, I don’t remember the recent ones because I don’t pay nearly as much attention to baseball as I used to. But according to this piece in the Times, what seems to be going on isn’t inattention on my part, but closed-mindedness among basebal people.
Okay, I concede that even though a baseball field is basically symmetric, it’s also laterally biased: Batters run from home to first base, not from home to third. And that tends to point the action in a certain direction, and perhaps confers small advantages on those better suited to deal with its lateral bias. But there are biases and counter-biases: A right-handed Sandy Amoros couldn’t have caught Yogi Berra’s fly ball down the left-field line, for example. And even though it may be unusual for lefties to come to the top in other sports where they operate at a disadvantage (like golf, where the doglegs tend to go in the “right” direction for right-handers), some left-handers manage to do pretty darned well. But baseball? Lefties play first base, or pitch, or an outfield position. Third base, second base, sortstop? Nah. And catcher? Don’t even think about it. An endangered species? More likely an extinct one.
Too bad. Not that being a catcher is a glamour job. It’s dirty and hot and injury-prone and nasty and hard and requires an unusual mix of talents. I never, ever wanted to be a catcher, and it’s not a profession you’d want your kids to aspire to. Unless, that is, you’d like them to find a job where, if they’re any good at it at all, they’re likely to last for a long time and, notwithstanding the gnarled hands, arthritic knees, and beat-up feet they’ll get for their stoop labor, they’ll have spent years in The Show — the ultimate dream of every little boy of my generation.
Comments
First, it’s probably not a good sign that I found this to be the most interesting piece the Times has run in months. Second, while I’m still open to the idea that the lack of southpaw backstops is just one of those inexplicable “we do it ‘cuz we do it” baseball traditions, I do think that the difficulty of the snap throw to third for lefties might be an explanation. Plus, given how picky pitchers can be about how catchers sit, dress, and position themselves, it’s hard to imagine them not being freaked out by the sight of a right-handed glove behind the plate.
Posted by: Dion Farganis | August 16, 2009 11:53 AM
Somebody who’s more into sabremetrics than I am may know the answer to this question: What’s the relative frequency of snap throws from catcher to third as opposed to from cather to first? (Anyway, as pointed out in the Times piece, right-handed catchers don’t seem to have much trouble snapping one to first when a left-handed batter is up, so what’s the big deal?)
Posted by: Lee Sigelman | August 16, 2009 01:51 PM
You missed the stat about the proportion of at bats right and left. It’s almost even, which amazes me. Although some of that is the rise of switch hitters since Mantle, I’d bet lefties are still overrepresented in baseball.
Posted by: Bill Harshaw | August 16, 2009 01:53 PM
I would assume that since lefties make up such a small percentage of people in general that when youngsters who are left-handed start playing ball they would be pushed towards the positions where it is an advantage to be left-handed (first base and pitcher).
In other words, why waste one of your few lefties on being a catcher?
Posted by: Dan Tarrant | August 16, 2009 09:35 PM
Withdrawn. I’m now going with an alternate explanation (also from the article): throws to home are easier for a righty catcher to deal with, especially if they come down the first base line. Also Dan is right: it’s got to be that talented lefties are selected out.
Posted by: Dion Farganis | August 16, 2009 10:52 PM
Dan:
I agree with you — there are pull factors as well as push factors. But only two positions (pitcher and first base) where lefties would have an advantage?
I wonder — because I don’t know the answer — what percentage of, say, center fielders are left-handed; there’s no reason to keep lefties out of that position, far as I can tell. And if being left-handed is a disadvantage for, say, a right fielder, then shouldn’t we see lots of left-handed left fielders? Do we? I dunno.
There are lots of good athletes who aren’t built like first basemen and who lack the talent to become pitchers. So where do they end up? (Probably up in the stands or on the couch.)
Posted by: Lee Sigelman | August 17, 2009 06:06 AM
It’s part because the old sack with the catcher’s equipment hand a right handers glove when I played little league. It wouldn’t be too hard to construct a path dependence argument
I would guess part is that any lefty with arm enough to play catcher is probably pitching.
Lefties certainly have a decided advantage in the batter’s box.
Posted by: David | August 17, 2009 01:20 PM
I wonder if it’s about the “sweep” of the catching hand. A rightie hander (aka, “left-hand catching) sweeps their hand naturally down the third base line while straddling the plate, providing both plate blocking and tag application. A leftie catcher would catch the ball up the first-base line and have to bring that hand out in front of themselves to apply the tag.
Thinking along this line, I also wonder if it’s an injury thing. Maybe leftie catchers are thought to get injured more often applying that tag (if they actually do, that’d be gravy for the argument), so coaches don’t let lefties play catcher.
However, lefties are WAY overrepresented amongst pitchers, given their natural population ratios. There’s such a thing as a LOOGY…ROOGY is only a reference to that term.
Posted by: Matt Jarvis | August 17, 2009 03:53 PM
Being left-handed in baseball confers a large advantage, but primarily at the plate. That’s why Bill (above) notes there are so many left-handed pitchers.
My son, an avid and talented little-league player, has it both ways: he throws right and bats left.
Posted by: superdude | August 17, 2009 04:32 PM