Broken Bat - Suggestions: Left Handed Specialist setting

Forum >> Suggestions >> Left Handed Specialist setting

Post ID	Date & Time	Game Date	Function

#23291	08/28/2015 8:23:56 pm
MukilteoMike Joined: 08/09/2014 Posts: 3294 Inactive	Create an option to keep the LHS in if they are facing a left-handed batter and they have not reached their pitch limit. If you have it checked, they'll stay in versus a leftie. If you don't, normal pitching change rules apply It has always seemed silly to see a LHS pulled when a leftie comes up. Of course a similar option could be made for RHS, but that isn't nearly as big of a deal since most pitchers are right-handed.

#23295	08/28/2015 9:19:40 pm
admin Joined: 01/27/2010 Posts: 4985 Administrator	What management settings do you normally setup for your LH specialized. Steve

#23306	08/29/2015 6:56:03 am
MukilteoMike Joined: 08/09/2014 Posts: 3294 Inactive	It varies. Basically what I would like is the LHS to stay in if a leftie is up. Right now I have to have my hook and pitch counts low because I don't want him staying in against righties. Here's a hypothetical example. I have my LHS pitch count at 0 because he sucks vs. righties; this way I know he only faces lefties, albeit it just one in every appearance. If there was an option to keep in provided the batter is a leftie, I could increase the pitch count as high as I want. In that case he would stay in as long as the scheduled batter hits from the left side. With the 0 pitch count, there might be four lefties in a row, but he'll only face the first one. I want him in until a rightie comes up and then I want him yanked.

#23394	08/30/2015 11:28:53 pm
admin Joined: 01/27/2010 Posts: 4985 Administrator	Yes, normally I'd think you'd set your LHP with a zero pitch count and then he'd face just that one LH batter. But if the next batter was also lefty, then you'd probably want him to say in the game, right? Steve

#23402	08/31/2015 6:49:45 am
MukilteoMike Joined: 08/09/2014 Posts: 3294 Inactive	That's exactly right. Basically, I don't want him pulled as long as a leftie is scheduled to hit and the max pitch count for the LHS has not been reached.

#23416	08/31/2015 4:25:01 pm
Crazy Li Joined: 01/25/2015 Posts: 879 Inactive	Essentially, this is less about leaving in the LHS and more about for-sure pulling him against a scheduled right-handed batter. It's just the lack of the latter caused us to have to mess with pitch count but that wasn't a true solution, just a weak bandaid.

#23420	08/31/2015 11:01:11 pm
admin Joined: 01/27/2010 Posts: 4985 Administrator	Well, that's possible with have a zero pitch count, but then doesn't really work well for the 2nd batter. Point taken... ...maybe the logic here need improving for the LHRP. Steve

#23427	09/01/2015 5:29:50 am
Holmes Joined: 11/07/2013 Posts: 1175 Inactive	I second that. Obviously, the other teams' pinch hitting has something to do with that, too (and I have bitched about default/bot pinch hitting before), but our pitchers with LHS settings, while generally pitching a relatively small number of innings, face an absurd number of right-handed batters. In the case of my LHS, Darren Brett, that's not too bad, because his career BAA vs. righties is .241 (one season, he actually had an inverse platoon split), but his at bat splits are just absurd: 2023: 14vL/121vR 2022: 14vL/146vR 2021: 32vL/168vR 2020: 32vL/136vR So, over his four seasons as a full-time major leaguer, he has pitched almost entirely as LHS (much of the first two seasons with a pitch count limit of 0), and he faced only 14% lefties. For comparison let's look at the Yankees, simply because I know who's pitching in what role there. Andrew Miller is at least halfway close to that with 18% lefties this year, but he's a closer, so he comes in against whoever, and teams will pinch hit against him all they can. Justin Wilson and Chasen Shreve have repeatedly been declared not-lefty-specialists and regularly pitch the complete seventh and/or sixth inning, and they face 35% and 38% lefties respectively. Matt Thornton last season was a bit more specialized, although he often stayed in for entire innings, as well, and he faced 47% lefties. The closest to a LOOGY that I can recall the Yanks having was Clay Rapada in 2012, who faced 74% lefties. In part that's because we have more pinch hitting. I think many teams who use the default settings hurt themselves by pinch hitting way too early in the game, but it actually does make more sense to pinch hit in BB than in MLB because with our 30 man rosters, we have a much longer bench. The other problem is, as mentioned by Mike, at which point a "specialist" gets pulled. With enough alternatives available, if someone is designated LHS, he will come in against a lefty and then stay until he reaches his hook or pitch count limit, regardless of who is coming to bat. I don't particularly like the idea of letting the LHS go over his pitch count if there is a lefty coming up (although that would be one way of doing it, if we set the pitch counts accordingly low). No sane real-life manager would leave an already exhausted reliever in the game just to play matchups. I would prefer the opposite, and I think we don't really need an extra setting for that because that should just be the point of declaring someone a specialist rather than, say, SET2: With enough options available in the pen, a specialist should be pulled early if, based on average pitches per at bat, it is improbable that he'll face another batter of his preferred handedness within his pitch count. He should also be pulled if the probably last batter he faces is pinch-hit for (provided he has faced at least one batter, of course).

#23430	09/01/2015 6:05:30 am
MukilteoMike Joined: 08/09/2014 Posts: 3294 Inactive	I actually love it when my LHS comes in the game in the sixth or so and the opposition pinch hits two or three righties for starting lefties, especially when no one is on. That means when they come around next time in the eighth or ninth, the inferior bat will be up against my best right handed relievers. Still, I don't feel that the LHS is effective at all here. As was mentioned above, he rarely faces lefties and the manager never uses him properly. That being said, I understand it's extremely difficult to get a good operation of any settings; there are always complicated issues and everyone has a different opinion how they should be handled. For instance, keeping with the LHS, if the opponent has LRL coming up for the next three batters, do you keep him in for all three? If yes, what if the first guy gets on base and he's the tying run late in the game? The considerations go on and on and not everyone will agree what should be done. That's part of what makes baseball so great.

#23470	09/02/2015 2:56:07 am
Holmes Joined: 11/07/2013 Posts: 1175 Inactive	Yes, you can make it complicated, and there are many things one might want to argue about. The question how many righties an LHS may face before he gets to the next lefty can't be answered globally, but that we can at least influence via pitch count limits to a certain extent. My point was, if he has no realistic chance to face another lefty, e.g. he is one or two pitches under his pitch count and there is a righty up before the next lefty, he should be pulled (always assuming there is a rested right-hander left in the pen). Re profiting from premature pinch hitting, I couldn't agree with you more.