Any left-handed infielders in MLB?

November 5, 2007 7:39 AM

Has there ever been a left-handed fielder that has played an infield position other than first base, and if so, how long ago was it?

I can understand why it would be disadvantageous for lefties to play the 4, 5 and 6 spots (due to back-to-home plate throwing position to first base), but I don't necessarily see any disadvantage to having a left handed catcher (other than having to find equipment at the youth level). Have there been any left-handed catchers in MLB in the modern era?

posted by Tommy Gnosis to sports, hobbies, & recreation (28 comments total)

Left handed catchers are more likely to interfere with right handed batters according to my brothers (both left-handed baseball players).
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 7:48 AM on November 5, 2007

Left-handed catchers are very rare, and for a very good reason: Most batters are right-handed. This means that they stand to the catcher's left while batting, which means that, if the catcher has to make a throw to second or third to try to catch someone stealing, the batter will be in his way if he's a leftie.
posted by cerebus19 at 7:49 AM on November 5, 2007

List of left-handed catchers; article and followup from Hardball Times.
posted by RogerB at 7:49 AM on November 5, 2007

Don Mattingly, I believe, threw lefty, and played one of the meanest 3d base s in history.
posted by spitbull at 7:49 AM on November 5, 2007

Mattingly was a first-baseman. But he did, very occasionally, play other infield positions.
posted by ewiar at 7:52 AM on November 5, 2007

Per this historical baseball blog (seemingly relatively trustworthy),

the last regular lefty infielder in the majors was Bill Hulen, Phillies shortstop in 1896, and Kid Mohler was still playing a southpaw second base in the PCL through 1912.

posted by RogerB at 7:53 AM on November 5, 2007

It looks like there have been no left handed catchers (that have caught a significant number of games) in the modern era. Two (the first two google results) links: 1., and 2. ("The Last left-handed throwing catcher to play the position was Benny Distefano who caught 3 games in 1989 for Pittsburgh.")
posted by kosem at 7:53 AM on November 5, 2007

Mattingly played three games at third in 1986. However, he converted 85 of 89 chances in those three games.

(wtf spitbull?)
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 7:54 AM on November 5, 2007

Don Mattingly, I believe, threw lefty, and played one of the meanest 3d base s in history.

Mattingly was a lefty, but a first baseman.
posted by kosem at 7:54 AM on November 5, 2007

It would appear, according to Baseball-Reference, that the last left-handed thrower to play at least 75% of the games in a season at C, 2B, SS, or 3B, was Jiggs Donahue, in 1902. Bring it down to 50%, and the last was Milo Netzel, in 1909.
posted by cerebus19 at 7:58 AM on November 5, 2007

Interestingly (well, to me, anyway), if you bring the percentage down to 25%, the last one jumps to Royle Stillman, in 1975.
posted by cerebus19 at 8:02 AM on November 5, 2007

Except he only played 13 games. Hmm. Now that I look, I see that none of them played very many games. Jiggs Donahue is the only left-handed thrower since 1901 to play at least 20 games in a season at one of those positions (he played 23 games as catcher in 1902, and 7 at first.
posted by cerebus19 at 8:05 AM on November 5, 2007

(Not to belabor the point, but Donahue never played a single game at anything other than 1B for the rest of his career after that.)
posted by cerebus19 at 8:08 AM on November 5, 2007

However, he converted 85 of 89 chances in those three games.

Wha? According to his BBRef page, he made 1 putout, got 11 assists, and made 1 error, for a fielding percentage of .923 (13 chances, 12 converted).
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 8:09 AM on November 5, 2007

Yeah, I was wondering how a third baseman gets 89 chances in three games. I mean, assuming none of the games went to extra innings, there would only be 81 outs total while he was in the field in three games.
posted by cerebus19 at 8:12 AM on November 5, 2007

The "batters get in the way of left handed catchers" myth has been disproven over and over and over again. (Speaking of which, could ASavageAndCompany have picked some less-lame baseball myths for that show?)

RogerB's linked Article above does a good job explaining the various reasons there are so few lefty catchers. The "Little League" explanation makes the most sense.

If you don't want to read the very long article to get to the point, it's pretty much this: If you're 10 years old, left handed and the best player on your little league team, then your coaches are not going to make you a catcher, or a shortstop, or a third baseman. You're going to become a pitcher.

And probability-wise, every major leaguer was almost certainly the best player on their little league team, after all.
posted by rokusan at 8:48 AM on November 5, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

If you're 10 years old, left handed and the best player on your little league team, then your coaches are not going to make you a catcher, or a shortstop, or a third baseman. You're going to become a pitcher.

That's certainly true for little league, but as you get a bit older it starts to specialize fairly quickly, at least in my experience. Players started to develop into real pitchers (as opposed to guys who could just throw hard) by 9th or 10th grade, but the best athletes on the team invariably ended up playing shortstop or center field. The catcher was almost always the smartest guy on the team or one with the best leadership skills.

Almost every lefty at every age with an ounce of ability gets an extra long tryout as a pitcher, other positions be damned. I think in most cases, the relative scarcity of left-handed catchers mitts and chest protectors is also a determining factor.
posted by psmealey at 9:05 AM on November 5, 2007

The little league team I coached last year (12 year olds) had a lefty catcher. He was damn good too. He did have all his own equipment though. Actually, that seems to be fairly common after about age 10 for any position. My catchers the last few years have all had their own stuff, and at least 1/2 the kids have personal bats too.
posted by COD at 9:29 AM on November 5, 2007

Perhaps it simply has more to do with perception. It doesn't really matter if it's not true that left-handed throwing catchers don't have more trouble throwing runners out stealing second or third. If most people think that's true, it will have the same effect as if it actually was.
posted by cerebus19 at 9:39 AM on November 5, 2007

That'll teach me to preview. That second sentence should read "...left-handed throwing catchers have more trouble...".
posted by cerebus19 at 9:40 AM on November 5, 2007

If you don't want to read the very long article to get to the point, it's pretty much this: If you're 10 years old, left handed and the best player on your little league team, then your coaches are not going to make you a catcher, or a shortstop, or a third baseman. You're going to become a pitcher.

I've heard that almost everyone in the major leagues has spent time at pitcher as they were growing up. The explanation being, if you make it to the majors, you can throw than 95% of the population (better? harder? clearly throwing and sophisticated pitching are very different things). There may still be truth in the line of thinking, but at 10 years old, if you can throw, you pitch; left, right, or bi (I think, I could never throw, hit, or catch :P).
posted by Chuckles at 10:01 AM on November 5, 2007

OK, I'm a Red Sox fan and despise the Yanks, so I stand corrected. I remember a RS/Yanks series in the 80s when Mattingly played a wicked third base, which must be where I got the mistaken idea from.
posted by spitbull at 11:47 AM on November 5, 2007

Spitbull, that must've been the great Mike Pagliarulo.
posted by inigo2 at 12:46 PM on November 5, 2007

"Steve Wrote:

I had an argument with a friend of mine. I told him that you played third base a couple of games for the Yankees. He says that there is no way a left hander played third base. Can you tell if in fact you did play third base, and against what opponents?

Don Mattingly Wrote:

Steve,

I did play third, it was against Seattle. It was like 87 or 88, not sure. I started one game or two, someone was hurt and they needed someone to fill in for a couple of days.

Sincerely,
Don Mattingly"

It was indeed the great Pags you saw on the hot corner against the Sox.
posted by kosem at 2:24 PM on November 5, 2007 [1 favorite has favorites]

Can't believe I don't have any recollection of Donnie playing third, but I was pretty closely glued to the Mets in those years. As I recall it, he was an excellent first baseman who won several gold gloves, but I'd kill to see videos of him playing third. Just seems beyond odd to have a lefty throwing from that side of the infield (though it's the only position that makes sense, because you have a bit more time to set up to throw to first base from there than either 2d or short).
posted by Tommy Gnosis at 3:26 PM on November 5, 2007

Whoops, yes. I've conflated Mattingly and Pags. He was absolutely extraordinary in both range and throwing. What happened to him?
posted by spitbull at 7:11 PM on November 5, 2007

Pags never lived up to his potential in the Bronx, but eventually went on to win a World Series with Minnesota in 1991. A friend of mine (huge Yankees fan) always griped about the fact that when he was on the Yankees, he barely hit about .260, but hit ..400 when he played against them. Not sure if there was truth to it, but I remember the near constant bitching about Rags (Dave Righetti, another guy who was promised as a savior, but never really lived up to his billing either) and Pags with a great deal of humor.
posted by psmealey at 2:42 AM on November 6, 2007

"Yeah, I was wondering how a third baseman gets 89 chances in three games. I mean, assuming none of the games went to extra innings, there would only be 81 outs total while he was in the field in three games."

Well, all every single ball was a grounder to third, and the first-baseman made 8 receiving errors.

I can't believe you don't remember that!
posted by dirtdirt at 6:28 AM on November 9, 2007