should Mantle have stayed a RH hitter only?
craig44
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his numbers are better from the right hand side. They may have gone down a small bit by facing RH pitchers, but I wonder how much of that would have been outweighed by him being able to have 100% of his efforts go to getting even better as a Right handed hitter. here are the simple splits:
LH . 282/.419/.548
RH . 330/.424/.576
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
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Do you wonder if that had anything to do with his right knee injury his rookie year? It’s more than a theory now that he played those 17 seasons on an _atleast_partially torn ACL right? That would require a lot of musculoskeletal compensation for sure.
that is a possibility. I hadnt considered that.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
No- my best memories of Mantle are from the left side of the plate.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Mays vs Left Handed Pitchers had a 1.006 OPS
When Mays faced righties it dropped to .917
An 8.84% decrease.
Aaron vs Left Handed pitchers had a 1.009 OPS
When Aaron faced righties it dropped to .900
A 10.08% decrease
Mantle had a .999 OPS vs left handers(meaning he was a RH hitter like Mays and Aaron).
If we assumed Mantle would have a similar drop in production vs RH pitchers as Aaron and Mays did if he chose to stay a RH hitter, then Mantle made the right choice by switch hitting.
Mantle saw only a 3.2% drop in production vs RH pitchers, compared to the 8.84 and 10.08 that Mays and Aaron saw.
Of course those are only two players to compare to, but they are from his era and at his level of hitting ability so really are the best comparisons.
Yankee stadium configuration did suppress Mantle's numbers a bit vs left handers because of the vastness of left field. So in reality his numbers vs lefties should read a little higher than they were. But then again, that also made it make more sense to hit lefty since he didn't have to deal with the vastness of left field as much.
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Great question/topic!
I can't remember which book I read it in, but at least one major leager thinks so.
Getting away from numbers and going with someone who played with him (I think it was Ted Williams) it was said Mickey had a nearly perfect RH swing and was more of an uppercut swing from the left side. He walked and struck out a lot more batting lefty.
I also read that he batted right handed against a righty in an attempt to hit a ball out of Yankee Stadium, so he might have felt he was better from the right side.
one would think Mantle could have improved his already great right handed hitting if he were to put 100% of his focus on hitting from the right side instead of only half.
George Brett, Roger Clemens and Tommy Brady.
It's possible. In the end, he probably would have been just as great either way.