Is Milton Bradley Really a Switch Hitter??
by Eli Greenspan on Jul 21, 2009 1:00 PM EDT
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Judging by the e-mails, there's a growing sentiment among Cub fans that switch-hitter Milton Bradley, who's been in a deep, season-long funk from the left side, should scrap the switch-hitting thing and hit from his natural right side against everybody. Forget it. Manager Lou Piniella, who benched Bradley to personally work on hitting mechanics with him, said, ''We're not even contemplating doing that. [General manager] Jim Hendry would wonder what the hell we're doing.'' Bradley, who's hitting .201 left-handed this year (.333 right), seemed even less inclined to entertain the question: Asked whether he'd consider batting right-only even short-term, he said simply, ''No.'' -- Chicago Sun-Times
Am I missing something? .201 vs. .333? Offense is offense and if the guy can hit from one side but not the other, wouldn't you sacrifice the lefty-hitting strategy for some run production?
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Meh.
He’s not horrible batting lefty:
I would have him try batting righty against a few RHP just to see if he can make the adjustment.
@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.
I actually think that
Bradley hits from the left side, even as a switch hitter, is the main reason the Cubs got him.
They have a predominantely RH hitting squad, and they got Bradley to mix things up.
The main problem with this is the guy is best suited to DH (and hit with the Rangers….who wouldn’t want to hit for the Rangers?)
He’s also on the Cubs…nothing ever works out for them.
WTF with these poll options?
How about, keep letting him hit lefty because telling him not to is a dumb idea?
The platoon advantage is one of the most stable statistical phenomena in all of baseball. Weird things can happen over 199 PA — which is all we’re talking about here — but you can’t rush to judgment on this stuff. He’s a career .266 hitter as a lefty, and he probably hasn’t tried to pick up the ball coming out of a pitcher’s right hand from that side of the plate in ten years.
Also, look at how he’s hitting on balls in play — .245 vs. lefties, .370 vs. righties. Anyone who knows baseball stats can tell you, this is really just about having much better luck against righties than against lefties.
Well, that's just, like, your opinion, man.
good post, a little harsh, but you had the right idea.
I would keep him hitting from the left side, he was never this bad….he’ll figure it out, somewhat.
What you fail to understand in your joyless myopia is that baseball is the key to life-- the Rosetta Stone, if you will. If you just understood baseball better all your other questions your, your... the, uh... the aliens, the conspiracies they would all, in their way be answered by the baseball gods.
I agree that the poll options are usually way too specific on this site.
@bs_uf15bosox9be:OverTheMonster-ALLERGEN WARNING:May contain PB.
completely bad idea....
Bradley has over 2500 plate appearances as a left handed hitter, hitting .266/.363/.430/.793. Somehow that ability went out the window this season?
I know Cubs fans are looking for any reason to figure out why they are underachieving, but this ain’t the problem.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
-Wayne Gretzky"
-Michael Scott
And he's batted .305/.388/.502 as a RH over his career.
I understand the issue of SSS in this situation, but if he’s in a funk from the left side, he’s in a funk from the left side. I don’t see what would be the problem with just giving him a few games to try out righty v. righty.
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