Here's a good question: How come most left handed hitters get 200+ hit seasons and mostly righty's don't?
Chuck Klein-200+ hits 5 times Ichiro-200+ hits 10 times Wade Boggs-200+ hits 7 times
You don't see many Right Handed hitters with 200+ hits a lot.
Fungo2012-01-16T14:30:53Z
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It’s harder for a left-handed hitter to hit against a left-handed pitcher, and it’s harder for a right-handed hitter to hit against a right-handed pitcher. A curveball or slider thrown by a left-handed pitcher will break down and away from a left-handed hitter, and vice-versa. This makes it harder to hit.
Since there are far more right handed pitchers, left handed batters, like Klein, Ichiro, Boggs, etc., have an advantage in seeing more righties than lefties.
3. Derek Jeter, (7) 200 hit seasons and counting, but I doubt if he does it again.
Ichiro: 85 % of his hits are singles and about 40 of them are bunts and then he outruns the fielders throws. Didn't work too well last year as he has lost a step or two.
Bogg's: 75 % of his hits were singles although he did draw a lot of walks.
Klein was a force, but the early 1930's were a hitters paradise so a little discount for that. However, Klein was the genuine article and hit with power too.
I guess that left handers have a small advantage by being a step closer to first.
You left out a very good lefty hitter, Tony Gwynn with with (5) 200 hit seasons. Also a great singles hitter as 75 % were singles.
There are more right-handed pitchers and hitters. The lefties have a slightly better advantage, seeing more right-handed pitching than the righties see left-handed pitching. There is the step and a half they have closer to the bag, but that is actually not that much of an advantage except to people like Ichiro. Most left-handed speedsters don't get more than 3 or 4 hits a season that way. The game has a built in advantage to lefties, that's all.
Left-handed hitters generally hit right-handed pitchers better than right-handed hitters do. Since 3/4 of the pitchers are right-handed it gives the left-handed hitters an advantage besides the fact that they are two steps closer to 1st base than right-handed hitters are.
i believe lefties usually have the better match up as they are facing right handed pitchers most of the time. Miggy Cabrera, Michael Young, Dustin Pedroia, and Jose bautista are some righties that i can think of with high averages. But you're right, you usually see the lefties at the top of the league in hits.