McCovey Chronicles · Sep 5, 2019
What Giants have the most extreme platoon splits?
David Banks-USA TODAY Sports The more baseball evolves, the more platoon splits become something worth paying attention to. Platoon splits - the euphonious term for a batter’s success against opposite-handed pitching versus same-handed pitching - has never been more relevant.
These days you’ll see many matchups geared towards maximizing the handedness advantage. Teams will stack their lineups to pose the biggest threat to an opposing pitcher, and nearly every reliever and pinch-hitter is brought in with handedness in mind. The Los Angeles Dodgers famously benched some of their best players in the 2018 World Series, just to gain a handedness advantage.