Challenged the ‘mystique’ behind left-handed pitching in Major League Baseball through statistical analysis and economic principles

2. • Southpaws have historically performed
slightly better
– Easier to pick off base runners standing on first
base
– Pitcher is granted more time to hide the ball in his
mitt, obstruct the batter’s vision

3. • Left-handed people are viewed as unique outliers
– Majority of modern inventions provide left-handed people with
disadvantages (cars, telephones, scissors, refrigerator doors)
• 15% of the world is left-handed
• Left-handed people are more likely to be geniuses
– Left-handed people are better at handling large amounts of
stimuli
– More left-handed people with IQs above 140 than right-handed
people
• This could explain why there are more left-handed people in creative
professions such as music, art, politics and writing

4. • Left half of the brain: associated with logic and
reason
• Right half of the brain: associated with art and
inventiveness
– Each of the brain’s hemispheres control the opposite
side of the body
– Some of world’s greatest prodigies were lefties
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Benjamin Franklin
• Jimi Hendrix
• Barack Obama

5. • “out in left field”
• “do it the right way”
• “a left-handed compliment”
Could it be that right-handed people have a skewed
perspective on left-handed people due to the negative
connotation associated with the left side?
Could it be that subconscious prejudice against lefties still
exists due to the historical intolerance built up against left
handed people?

6. AMERICAN LEAGUE NATIONAL LEAGUE
Name Throws Team Div. Contract Name Throws Team Div. Contract
CC
Sabathia
Left New York
Yankees
East 8 yrs
$182M
Cliff
Lee
Left Philadelphia
Phillies
East 5 yrs
$120M
Jon
Lester
Left Boston
Red Sox
East 5 yrs
$30M
Cole
Hamels
Left Philadelphia
Phillies
East 1 yr
$15M
C.J.
Wilson
Left Texas
Rangers*
West 5 yrs
$77.5M
Clayton
Kershaw
Left Los Angeles
Dodgers
West 2 yrs
$19M
Josh
Beckett
Right Boston
Red Sox
East 4 yrs
$68M
Roy
Halladay
Right Philadelphia
Phillies
East 3 yrs
$60M
Justin
Verlander
Right Detroit
Tigers
Cent. 5 yrs
$79.5M
Zack
Greinke
Right Milwaukee
Brewers
Cent. 4 yrs
$38M
Felix
Hernandez
Right Seattle
Mariners
West 5 yrs
$78M
Tim
Lincecum
Right San Francisco
Giants
West 2 yrs
$40.5M

7. AMERICAN LEAGUE
Name Throws W L ERA G IP H ER BB K WHIP vs. RHB vs. LHB
CC
Sabathia
Left 19 8 3.00 33 237.1 230 79 61 230 1.226 0.273 0.207
Jon
Lester
Left 15 9 3.47 31 191.2 182 74 75 182 1.257 0.244 0.207
C.J.
Wilson
Left 16 7 2.94 34 223.1 191 73 74 206 1.187 0.227 0.251
Josh
Beckett
Right 13 7 2.89 30 193.0 146 62 52 175 1.026 0.245 0.186
Justin
Verlander
Right 24 5 2.40 34 251.0 174 67 57 250 0.920 0.215 0.174
Felix
Hernandez
Right 14 14 3.47 33 233.2 218 90 67 222 1.220 0.243 0.252
Average 17 8 3.03 33 221.4 190 74 64 211 1.139 0.241 0.213

8. NATIONAL LEAGUE
Name Throws W L ERA G IP H ER BB K WHIP vs. RHB vs. LHB
Cliff
Lee
Left 17 8 2.40 32 232.2 197 62 42 238 1.027 0.239 0.196
Cole
Hamels
Left 14 9 2.79 32 216.0 169 67 44 194 0.986 0.204 0.249
Clayton
Kershaw
Left 21 5 2.28 33 233.1 174 59 54 248 0.977 0.213 0.178
Roy
Halladay
Right 19 6 2.35 32 233.2 208 61 35 220 1.040 0.206 0.273
Zack
Greinke
Right 16 6 3.83 28 171.2 161 73 45 201 1.200 0.245 0.245
Tim
Lincecum
Right 13 14 2.74 33 217.0 176 66 86 220 1.207 0.226 0.217
Average 17 8 2.73 32 217.1 181 65 51 220 1.073 0.222 0.226

9. LEFT-HANDED PITCHERS
Name Hitters BAA OBP SLG OPS K/BB
CC
Sabathia
vs. LHB 0.207 0.253 0.301 0.554 8.00
vs. RHB 0.273 0.324 0.384 0.709 2.84
Differential 0.066 0.071 0.083 0.155 5.16
Jon
Lester
vs. LHB 0.207 0.281 0.299 0.580 2.89
vs. RHB 0.244 0.328 0.400 0.728 2.28
Differential 0.037 0.047 0.101 0.148 0.61
C.J.
Wilson
vs. LHB 0.251 0.323 0.335 0.658 3.00
vs. RHB 0.227 0.296 0.354 0.650 2.72
Differential (0.024) (0.027) 0.019 (0.008) 0.28
Cliff
Lee
vs. LHB 0.196 0.219 0.299 0.518 12.25
vs. RHB 0.239 0.283 0.351 0.634 4.97
Differential 0.043 0.064 0.052 0.116 7.28
Cole
Hamels
vs. LHB 0.249 0.286 0.376 0.662 4.30
vs. RHB 0.204 0.251 0.326 0.577 4.44
Differential (0.045) (0.035) (0.050) (0.085) (0.14)
Clayton
Kershaw
vs. LHB 0.178 0.245 0.267 0.512 4.42
vs. RHB 0.213 0.259 0.305 0.563 4.64
Differential 0.035 0.014 0.038 0.051 (0.22)

10. RIGHT-HANDED PITCHERS
Name Hitters BAA OBP SLG OPS K/BB
Josh
Beckett
vs. RHB 0.245 0.292 0.379 0.671 4.87
vs. LHB 0.186 0.260 0.303 0.562 2.76
Differential (0.059) (0.032) (0.076) (0.109) 2.11
Justin
Verlander
vs. RHB 0.215 0.253 0.364 0.617 5.53
vs. LHB 0.174 0.233 0.271 0.504 3.82
Differential (0.041) (0.020) (0.093) (0.113) 1.71
Felix
Hernandez
vs. RHB 0.243 0.292 0.364 0.656 4.76
vs. LHB 0.252 0.314 0.349 0.662 2.45
Differential 0.009 0.022 (0.015) 0.006 2.31
Roy
Halladay
vs. RHB 0.206 0.236 0.275 0.511 8.00
vs. LHB 0.273 0.305 0.354 0.659 4.47
Differential 0.067 0.069 0.079 0.148 3.53
Zack
Greinke
vs. RHB 0.245 0.305 0.375 0.679 4.07
vs. LHB 0.245 0.288 0.450 0.738 5.06
Differential 0.000 (0.017) 0.075 0.059 (0.99)
Tim
Lincecum
vs. RHB 0.226 0.302 0.362 0.663 3.16
vs. LHB 0.217 0.303 0.326 0.628 2.10
Differential (0.009) 0.001 (0.036) (0.035) 1.06

11. The reason why left-handed pitchers command
more interest, money and investment in
comparison to right-handed pitchers has a lot to
do with scarcity and the human behavior that
reacts to this economic force.

12. “Left-handers are a limited commodity in
baseball’s player market, and teams devote great
amounts of time, energy and stress into making
sure they don’t miss their share of them.”
–Mel Antonen, USA Today
“That means a player whose normal ability
warrants a second-round pick might go in the first
round because a team is so desperate.
–Allan Simpson, Baseball America

13. There are less lefty pitchers than
righties, causing managers to overvalue and
overpay for lefties – because they are more
exclusive, and not because they are more
successful.
Source monitoring – the idea that humans
when told enough times that something is
truth, will eventually believe it in spite of its
validity

14. Sequential ordering – people are heavily
influenced by the decisions that are made
before them, like in an auction market. Public
decision-making encourages conformity.
Managerial activity and team decision-making in
baseball is very much predicated on the history
of what has happened in and around the league.

15. • Part of what you pay in a contract is an
entertainment value
– Philosophy relies on the excitement a ball club
generates from its “ace”
• Last four MLB offseasons dominated by a single
contract, the top FA pitcher.
– 2009: CC Sabathia – 7 years, $161 M (now 8/182)
– 2010: John Lackey – 5 years, $82.5M
– 2011: Cliff Lee – 5 years, $120M
– 2012: C.J. Wilson – 5 years, $77.5M

16. Sequential ordering – baseball teams strive for
more variety when it comes to building a
pitching staff, giving up too much money and
attention for left-handed pitching.
The same irrational behaviors are systematic
and predictable.

17. In the end, we believe irrationality even has its
place in the business that is baseball.
Unless business makers and managers in the
MLB could revise their thinking, teams will
continue to overpay and over-invest in “the
lefty” over “the righty” without any rationality.