MLB: Luis Polonia - The 'Obligatory' Left Handed Hitter

There are a couple of types of baseball wisdom out there. The first type includes the trite, off-hand gospel that everybody believes for no particular reason, such as “he strikes out too much” (suggests that a whiff is worse than an out which can move a runner along, ignoring the fact that a ground ball out can turn into a double play). The second category, though, includes the sayings that do make sense most of the time and thus have become clichés of the game. You know the type: keep the ball away from lefty pull hitters, have a good glove man on the bench for late inning substitutions, that sort of thing.

The problem with clichés, even the most valid ones, is that they lull even the best and brightest of us into making snap decisions when just a little more thought would yield a better choice.

Take the somewhat shocking (at least to the average fan) retention of Luis Polonia on the New York Yankees’ post-season roster at the expense of baseball’s poster boy for dedication and hard work, Jose Canseco. The decision seemingly smacks of deceit and intrigue: the guy who Joe Torre said he didn’t want and couldn’t use is snubbed in favor of a 35-year-old singles hitting “outfielder” (heh heh) who hit a career high .381 a couple of years back – in the Mexican League.

However, take one look at the Yankee roster and all is explained. Regardless of his limitations, Polonia is a left-handed hitter who somehow developed a smidgen of power during his seasons south of the border. His .283 seasonal average and .408 slugging percentage against righties are obviously welcome on a bench that would otherwise have… oh my gosh, NO port side hitters on it.

Thus the move is a slam-dunk, right? I mean, you’ve gotta have at least one left-handed bat available for the inevitable late-inning confrontations with Kazuhiro Sasaki, Dave Veres, or Armando Benitez, don’t you?

Well, maybe not.

Just because Polonia bats from the port side doesn’t mean that he’s necessarily the best hitter available against right handed pitching – after all, Nomar Garciaparra hits righty and nobody’s threatening to platoon him when Mike Mussina takes the mound.

In this spirit, let’s consider another option that was available to the Yankees, a right-handed hitter who was picked up on waivers late in the season and had an OK, but nothing spectacular run for the Bronx Bombers. Since performance against northpaws is the key issue at hand, we’ll just compare their seasonal stats against those people:

Polonia…311 AB…45 R…88 H…13 2B…4 3B…6 HR…24 RBI…283 AVG…335 OBP…408 SLG

Mr. X…..252 AB…31 R…61 H…15 2B…0 3B…9 HR…32 RBI…242 AVG…370 OBP…409 SLG

Hmmm… Polonia scored more runs than Mr. X because he spent over 80% of the time in the leadoff spot, but otherwise Mr. X has the advantage. He has more extra base hits despite logging 20% fewer at bats and most importantly Mr. X gets on base 10% more of the time despite giving up 41 points in batting average.

Well, maybe 2000 was just a bad season for Polonia. Let’s compare him and Mr. X in 1999, when Polonia had the second highest batting average of his career and exceeded his previous yearly high in slugging percentage by 119 points. Mr. X, on the other hand, lost about 1/3 of the season to back problems and was sub-par upon his return:

Polonia…310 AB…45 R..103 H…21 2B…8 3B…9 HR…29 RBI…332 AVG…363 OBP…539 SLG

Mr. X…..341 AB…62 R…94 H…11 2B…1 3B..26 HR…69 RBI…276 AVG…368 OBP…543 SLG

In short, Polonia had a career year in terms of power and still couldn’t quite catch Mr. X in one of his lesser seasons. He outhit Mr. X by 56 points yet didn’t get on base as much and scored 20% fewer runs per at bat despite being a leadoff hitter virtually all season long.

I’d compare the previous couple of seasons for you as well, but the difference between riding the bus between Jalisco and Monterrey and hitting 69 homers in 771 at bats seems too obvious to belabor.

So who is Mr. X? Aw, come on… who else could he be?

Polonia and Canseco are pretty close in other aspects of their game as well – or in this case the lack of other aspects. Both remain pretty good baserunners: though Polonia still steals ‘em and Canseco doesn’t, Luis is past the point where his basestealing capabilities are worth much one way or the other. Defensively, both have regressed to the point of being jokes, with Canseco’s well publicized inadequacies being matched by Polonia’s poor instincts and popgun arm.

You know what Torre’s thinking was. He didn’t have it in for Canseco, or have a sudden desire for an aging speed guy who doesn’t take walks, or want to give a one-time Yankee a break. Torre simply looked down his bench one day when a right-hander was on the mound, started counting the number of lefty bats he had there, and got done way too quickly. Polonia was on the 40-man roster, he’d had a decent season and the media rips managers who don’t have lefty pinch hitters available on the bench to shreds, so why not?

Thus, the cliché has been served and the Yankees have their obligatory lefty on the bench.

Too bad that isn’t the same as saying that they have the best hitter versus righties there.