Hey Lefty, Strap On The Gear

While the unwritten rules are being rewritten, let's put a lefty behind the plate

On August 18, 1989, Jim Leyland found his team trailing, 9-4, with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. The bases were loaded, and Braves starter Tom Glavine had just been replaced by right-handed sidearmer Mark Eichhorn.

Well aware of the platoon splits, Leyland pinch hit for his right-handed hitting catcher Junior Ortiz with lefty Benny Distefano.

Distefano delivered with a base hit that drove in two runs and trimmed the Pirates’ deficit to three.

The Pirates didn’t score again that day and ended up losing, 13-6. It would be two seasons before these teams met in a dramatic seven-game NLCS.

What made that game in 1989 memorable, though — a game between two clubs well below .500 — was what Distefano did after his pinch hit. He strapped on the tools of ignorance, put his catcher’s mitt on his right hand, and caught the final three innings of the game.

More than 30 years later, August 18, 1989 stands as the last date that a left-handed catcher appeared in a Major League game.

I have a feeling that a triumphant return of the left-handed catcher is imminent.

Today, we live in an era in which it’s common to see three infielders positioned to the right of second base. Pitchers routinely hit 100 MPH. The game is different. Very different. What hasn’t changed, though, is the lack of catchers with offensive impact.

Through the completion of games on June 1, MLB catchers were slashing .219 / .300 / .375. These numbers are the lowest across the board of the eight every day position players. The average in baseball, including pitchers and catchers, is .236 / .312 / .394. Surely, the offensive scene behind the plate isn’t so good that we shouldn’t be considering alternatives.

But would any manager dare to try what Leyland did in 1989? Some managers today aren’t even allowed to construct the lineup. Of course, left-handed catchers don’t just walk into the locker room. Distefano’s presence on the Pirates roster was the work of the front office staff, which gave Leyland the option — and presumably the autonomy — to turn to his southpaw. (Leyland substituted Distefano into the lineup at catcher three times during the 1989 season, all when the Pirates’ chances of winning were incredibly unlikely.)

I think about NFL head coaches who choose to punt late in the game with their teams trailing. Sometimes it’s from relatively neutral field position — when a good punt can only net so many yards.

I won’t pretend to understand NFL strategy and culture. I will, however, be as bold to suggest that it’s very difficult to score if you don’t have the ball. Similarly, when Leyland was down by five runs and identified a golden opportunity to cash in, he took the chance. It was understanding run expectancy and win probability before run expectancy and win probability had entered baseball jargon.

He valued the immediate opportunity to score runs over the lesser-known dilemma of run prevention with a wrong-handed catcher. Jim Leyland is the NFL coach who goes for it on fourth down because he is trying to win the game. He is not worried about the short field he might leave his opponent if his team fails to convert.

As teams invest more heavily in multiple facets of analytics, the arguments against the left-handed catcher should be losing credence. Still, the left-handed catcher who logged the most innings in history caught his last game in 1900. Jack Clements made his debut behind the plate for the Philadelphia Keystones in 1884, and he caught more than 1,000 games during his career.

The game has changed a bit since then.

Conventional arguments against a lefty catcher include his ability to control the running game, make throws on bunts, and receive throws on plays at the plate.

You could assert that, in today’s three-true-outcome game, stealing bases and bunting has never been less emphasized.

In the National League in 1989, there were 1.15 stolen base attempts per game. Over the past three seasons in the NL, that number has sat around 0.63 SBA/game. Put another way, when Leyland last put Distefano behind the plate, stolen base attempts were nearly twice as frequent as they are today.

Will it look funny having a lefty behind the dish? Sure it will. Might umpires need some time to get used to the perspective? Perhaps, but the robots won’t.

Umpires in the newly named Low-A Southeast League are receiving assistance from the “Automatic Ball-Strike System,” which is a fancy way of saying robot umps. The possibility of some form of Artificial Intelligence calling balls and strikes is real. I’d say it’s likely. Pitch framing may suddenly become an obsolete art, much like hitting behind the runner and shortening up with two strikes.

Also, plays at the plate that were once problematic for the left-handed catcher are not as much anymore. A lefty has to reach across himself or backhand a throw to make a tag on a runner trying to score. The act of doing so leaves — or left — the catcher susceptible to being crushed by the runner on a play at the plate.

But since blocking the plate has been outlawed and collisions have been strongly discouraged, the left-handed catcher is in better hands.

So, where is he? Where is the left-handed backstop, be it the emergency variety or a potential starter whose bat is too good to leave on the bench?

Pitch framing and — don’t make me say it — pitch presentation are valued by teams, so perhaps now is the time for the left-handed catcher to demonstrate that he could better receive a right-handed pitcher’s breaking ball. Teams are willing to try almost anything, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we soon learn about an organization’s left-handed catching camp.

Turn on any game and watch the catcher take a knee before the pitch is thrown. Over the course of this season specifically, I’ve seen too many catchers — from Jonah Heim to JT Realmuto — allow balls to get by them with the winning run on third. Doesn’t pitch framing have to take a back seat to blocking in certain situations?

Click here to see a brief “highlight” reel of four of these occurrences that I’ve kindly compiled. Members of the jury, after you watch the video evidence, I think you’ll agree that a left-handed catcher couldn’t have done much worse. Hell, a no-handed catcher probably would have done better.

Let The Kids Play! goes the new slogan from MLB. Fine, I’m in.

Let the left-handed catchers play, too.

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