Much has been written about how a few spots may turn into a platoon and even more was said about how the Cardinals were poor hitters when facing left-handed pitching. We are looking at how the right-handed batters did in 2013.
When looking at the numbers, most are familiar with them except maybe the OBP and SLG so I have included the formula and some other things to help you along.
The formula for OBP is simple:
H+BB+HBP/AB+BB+HBP+SF
Rules of Thumb
| Rating | OBP |
| Excellent | 0.400 |
| Great | 0.370 |
| Above Average | 0.340 |
| Average | 0.320 |
| Below Average | 0.310 |
| Poor | 0.300 |
| Awful | 0.290 |
SLG- slugging percentage (abbreviated SLG) is a popular measure of the power of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats:
TB/AB
where AB is the number of at-bats for a given player, and 1B, 2B, 3B, and HR are the number of singles, doubles, triples, and home runs, respectively.
Let’s examine how the right-handed hitters fared against the left-handed pitchers.
| Avg | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | SLG | |
| Bourjos | .256 | 39 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 11 | .326 | .282 |
| Craig | .278 | 126 | 35 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 20 | 4 | 28 | .311 | .468 |
| Ellis | .282 | 131 | 37 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 8 | 18 | .331 | .412 |
| Holliday | .298 | 121 | 36 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 20 | 26 | .403 | .397 |
| Molina | .333 | 108 | 36 | 10 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 7 | 13 | .374 | .509 |
| Peralta | .352 | 125 | 44 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 16 | 10 | 38 | .404 | .580 |
| Robinson | .228 | 79 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 12 | 7 | .319 | .278 |
Analysis: As you can see I added Bourjos, Ellis and Peralta and did not include Freese. Bourjos is to be our centerfielder and he only hit .256 against left handers. Jon Jay is a lefty batter so we may have some issues against left-handers from the center field position.
Adding Peralta will help tremendously facing the southpaw as he has the ability to get on base and hit for average when facing them. Holliday and Molina flat-out rake no matter which hand the glove is on. Craig being an RBI machine did lead the team with 20.
Let’s examine how the right-handed hitters fared in 2013 against right-handed pitchers.
| AVG | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | SLG | |
| Bourjos | .279 | 136 | 38 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 6 | 32 | .336 | .404 |
| Craig | .327 | 382 | 125 | 23 | 2 | 7 | 77 | 36 | 72 | .392 | .453 |
| Ellis | .265 | 302 | 80 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 33 | 18 | 56 | .319 | .325 |
| Holliday | .301 | 399 | 120 | 22 | 1 | 21 | 81 | 49 | 60 | .384 | .519 |
| Molina | .315 | 397 | 125 | 34 | 0 | 9 | 59 | 23 | 42 | .354 | .469 |
| Peralta | .282 | 284 | 80 | 16 | 0 | 7 | 39 | 25 | 60 | .338 | .412 |
| Robinson | .277 | 65 | 18 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 11 | 10 | .377 | .369 |
Analysis: Craig loves the righties as he managed good numbers across the board. Holliday was able to hit either one for average as was Molina. So if anything cries out for a platoon it might be the numbers Ellis has accumulated facing right-handed pitching.
Next up: How did the left-handed batters fare against the left and right handed pitchers.
