Seeing Double (Quadruple?)
When a switch hitter faces a switch pitcher, which player decides what the matchup will be?
According to my baseball-crazy 15 year-old son, this is no idle hypothetical: it actually occurred earlier this week during an Oakland A’s – Boston Red Sox game.
Playing the Odds
If you’re into such things, there are exactly four possibilities: 1) righty pitcher/righty batter; 1) righty pitcher/lefty batter; 3) lefty pitcher/lefty batter; and 4) lefty pitcher/righty batter.
According to same 15 year-old, baseball rules provide that the pitcher must commit first.
Meanwhile, conventional baseball wisdom says that the pitcher typically has the advantage when a pitcher and a hitter pitch or bat with the same hand.
Ergo, if the switch pitcher commits to pitching righty, the switch hitter would likely elect to bat lefty, and vice versa.
Simple, huh??
Try navigating all of the foregoing if you’re mildly dyslexic (like me).
P.S.: What’s a “Minnesota stand-off?” A four-way stop, where no one will go first.
