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« It's Plain to See: Uggla Flailing vs. Soft Stuff | Main | Dodgers Turnaround Part 2: Pitching »
Saturday
Aug172013

Why the Red Sox will be seeing Lefties from here on out

The Red Sox have hit a rough patch having lost three straight, four of five, and six of their last eight games and while they are in first place, they are now a game behind in the loss column to the second-place Rays.

Part of their slump can be attributed to their difficulties against lefty starters.

Here are their numbers for the season

Red Sox v Lefty Starters - 2013
  G PA AVG OBP SLUG OPS K% AB H 2B HR BB K
Jose Iglesias (BOS) 25 62 .339 .403 .464 .868 14.5% 56 19 2 1 5 9
Dustin Pedroia (BOS) 40 117 .358 .419 .519 .938 9.4% 106 38 14 1 11 11
David Ortiz (BOS) 31 91 .284 .308 .455 .762 12.1% 88 25 6 3 3 11
Daniel Nava (BOS) 19 52 .283 .365 .435 .800 23.1% 46 13 1 2 6 12
Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS) 37 118 .264 .339 .349 .688 10.2% 106 28 3 2 8 12
Will Middlebrooks (BOS) 21 49 .261 .306 .435 .741 24.5% 46 12 2 2 2 12
Shane Victorino (BOS) 30 92 .253 .286 .368 .654 10.9% 87 22 4 2 3 10
Mike Napoli (BOS) 39 106 .232 .311 .389 .701 29.2% 95 22 6 3 11 31
Stephen Drew (BOS) 23 56 .220 .286 .380 .666 32.1% 50 11 3 1 4 18
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (BOS) 18 44 .195 .250 .244 .494 25.0% 41 8 2 0 3 11
Jonny Gomes (BOS) 40 109 .194 .275 .347 .622 20.2% 98 19 6 3 10 22

Here are their numbers since the All-Star Break

Only Dustin Pedroia steps it up. Then again, if he didn't that would be a story.

Of particular note are Mike Napoli and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Red Sox versus lefty starters since 2013 All-Star break
  G PA AVG OBP SLUG OPS K% AB H 2B HR BB K
Dustin Pedroia (BOS) 11 35 .324 .343 .412 .755 8.6% 34 11 0 1 1 3
David Ortiz (BOS) 10 32 .267 .313 .333 .646 12.5% 30 8 2 0 2 4
Stephen Drew (BOS) 9 25 .261 .320 .348 .668 32.0% 23 6 2 0 1 8
Shane Victorino (BOS) 11 35 .235 .235 .382 .618 5.7% 34 8 2 1 0 2
Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS) 11 39 .222 .282 .417 .699 12.8% 36 8 1 2 2 5
Mike Napoli (BOS) 10 30 .200 .333 .480 .813 30.0% 25 5 1 2 5 9
Jonny Gomes (BOS) 11 33 .188 .212 .438 .650 18.2% 32 6 2 2 1 6
Jose Iglesias (BOS) 12 31 .172 .226 .276 .502 19.4% 29 5 0 1 1 6
Brandon Snyder (BOS) 5 13 .154 .154 .385 .538 23.1% 13 2 0 1 0 3
Jarrod Saltalamacchia (BOS) 8 24 .130 .167 .130 .297 12.5% 23 3 0 0 1 3

 

As we go down the stretch, look for opponents to hoard their lefty starters in anticipation of playing Boston.

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Reader Comments (2)

A dangerous trend for the Sox here, L-R imbalance has come up before in recent times. It could get worse in Sept: GMs on fading teams can look remarkably lifelike by calling up an extra lefty starter and/or reliever, and citing their upcoming series with Boston. It is a vulnerability that bears watching. I am sure GM Ben Cherington would love to find another RH bat even before Sept 1, either in house or at a reasonable price.

I was mildly confused by your narrative comment on Pedroia ("Only Dustin Pedroia steps it up."); I love him too, but his OPS appears nearly .180 LOWER in table 2 (.755 since the All-Stars, vs. .938 for the season). I might have inferred that Pedey was raking vs LH starters in the first half, and just getting by against them in the late sub-sample. Napoli's numbers as tabulated would seem to be the best match for "steps it up"; his OPS vs. LH starters appears to be HIGHER by .113 in the recent sub-sample (a respectable .813) relative to the season as a whole (.701).

I enjoy your site and appreciate your posts generally. Tell me why I need to put on another pot of coffee for this one.

August 18, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterKingkelly

Anybody think that Xander Bogaerts might be seeing a lot of time against left-handers now that he's been called up?

Salty should never, ever, be played against a lefty. He is a switch-hitter in name only, always has been. I can't help but think he would do better if he just hit left-handed all of the time.

August 20, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterJohn C

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