We’ve heard mumblings about this before, but the volume is reaching a crescendo. There have been enough voices, either on social media, or on the airwaves of local sports talk stations suggesting it that I can’t ignore it any more.
Matt Wieters isn’t going to give up switch-hitting, so stop saying that.
First, let’s look at the logic these folks are using.
Wieters has absolutely struggled from the left side of the dish here in the early going of 2013, especially compared to when he swings from the right side. He’s at .159/.260/.295 with 2 HR and 7 RBI from the left side in 51 PA, and .333/.417/.571 with 1 HR and 2 RBI from the right.
This follows a trend Wieters started in 2011, and continued in 2012, when he hit .224/.304/.412 with 18 HR in 442 PA as a lefty, and .323/.404/.504 with 5 HR in 151 PA as a righty.
However, it hasn’t always been this way for Matt. In fact, it was the exact opposite during his first two years in the league:
Very curious. Wieters was a better hitter from the left side in 2009 and 2010, but his splits continually shift in favor of the right side. His average from the left side has dropped every year since 2009, while slugging dropped from 2009-11 before ticking back up last season. From the right side, he was best in 2011, but still very good in 2012.
Regardless, Matt Wieters isn’t just going to become a right-handed-only hitter at this point in his career.
Aside from a couple at-bats over the past few years against knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, Wieters likely hasn’t taken hacks against right-handed pitching from the right side of the plate since he was in Little League or high school.
I don’t know Wieters’ switch-hitting history personally, but most switch hitters don’t just teach themselves how to do it later in life – either you can do it or you can’t, and most discover this early on. Personally, I started switch-hitting when I was eight years old. I’d imagine Wieters figured out his own ability to swing from both sides at around the same age. From that point on, he was likely swinging from both sides of the plate regularly.
While there aren’t many left-handed pitchers in most Little Leagues, by the time Wieters was a teen, he was probably playing enough games on advanced travel teams and the like that he got plenty of chances to hit lefties from the right side. Conservatively, let’s say the last time he hit righties regularly from the right side he was 16 years old.
In that case, it’s still been a decade since he did it.
And that was against much, much lesser competition.
Wieters has never faced MLB pitching without switch hitting. He’s not about to start, no matter how much he struggles from the left side, especially considering that he’s shown the ability to thrive from that side against MLB-caliber hurlers in the past.
Of course I get frustrated when I see Wieters struggling. It’s exacerbated when I see a guy like J.P. Arencibia, who just came to town with the Blue Jays, leading the league in home runs.
However, look at Arencibia’s defense – it’s pretty atrocious. The Blue Jays’ backstop has allowed 13 stolen bases this year, while only throwing out two. According to Baseball-Reference.com, Arencibia’s Rfield (number of runs better or worse than average from fielding) has been -5, 3, and -2 (so far) for 2011-13.
Wieters, on the other hand, has caught seven would-be base-stealers and allowed only four stolen bases. His Rfield was 2, 7, 17, 5, and 2 (so far) for 2009-13, respectively.
Much of the frustration with Wieters’ bat stems from the fact that he was billed as an offensive powerhouse when he was a prospect. While his value as a defender more than makes up for his shortcomings with the bat, O’s fans can’t get over it because of expectations.
If Wieters had been known as “Jesus in shin guards,” rather than “Switch-hitting Jesus” a few years ago, it would be a different story – we’d be OK with the great defense, and accept that any offense was just a bonus.
At some point, we may just have to accept that he’ll never be the “Mauer with Power” that we expected. Instead, he’s a decent-hitting, extraordinary defensive catcher.
It might help if Buck stopped hitting him cleanup too.
I know it’s tough to continue reminding ourselves that Wieters is an incredible defender every time he rolls over a pitch for another weak ground ball to second base. But we should try to keep doing that, rather than suggesting silly “fixes” for him, like becoming a right-handed-only hitter.
