Should Berkman give up switch hitting and bat only left handed?

i saw his left/right handed statistics last night. He had a 282 average from the right side and i think 272 or so from the left. Clearly he has more power from the left but he seems to be decent on the right side.

 

Yes, please give it up Lance.

Just looking at the stroke from the left side compared to the right - it is like watching two different players.

 

Hes no more than a slap hitter from the right.

How many LOBs does Berkman have so far?

 

He did start looking very decent from the right side of the plate last year... and this year might be key. If he can duplicate last year, I say why the hell not. If he regresses, and it hampers his overall effectiveness on the year and his numbers, then he might have to consider something else.

Hell... for all we know, he might be WORSE left handed against lefties.

 

His average as a right hander is fine, and based on the above comment alone, I'll say no at this point.

I'm starting to question Berkman though and am thinking maybe the 40HR year was a fluke. Really hope I'm just stupid for even thinking that, and he'll prove me wrong.

 

Judging by the first two games of the season, he just needs to give up period.

 

If Berkman has an even lesser year than he did last season, then the inevitable comparisons to Hidalgo will beging to surface IMO.

 

Me too. He has not looked the same since 2002 and I'm starting to worry. I thought he was a lock to be a .300+ and 30+ HR hitter for his career. Hopefully he was not just a product of the juiced ball/player era.

 

He had a "contract drive". Reel in the big $$, then underperform. Everyone does it.

If he doesnt perform this year, he will be gone. Hello Jason Lane.

 

isn't his contract only 3 yr/10.5M? well as much as ten million dollars can be "only." it's not like he's up there with the big boys i don't think and he'll only get a real huge pay day if he goes back to 2002 so he has no reason to slack off.


as for this thread, i wouldn't mind never seeing him bat from the right again. it gives me too many memories of carl everett trying to bat righthanded against john rocker in the playoffs with the bases loaded and doing nothing b/c his swing was so terrible righthanded no matter what his numbers were.

 

I think he should stay a switch hitter. There is no telling how long it has been since he has faced a left handed pitcher from the left side(if ever in a game). He is naturally a right handed hitter if I remember correctly. I'm no pro ball player, but I can tell you from experience there is a bigger difference than the average person thinks from seeing the ball. I played HS school ball and was a switch hitter all through HS, and there was a huge difference with seeing the ball coming out of the pitcher's hand facing either Right vs Right or Left vs Left. From the average fan's point of view though it can be hard to tell.

 

I don't buy it. It wasn't really a contract year in that he was going to be a free agent. He was up for arbitration, and the team gave him a contract that was probably close to or more than what he might have gotten in that process, but still way less than a typical hitter of his caliber (or so we thought at that time). He really didn't make out like a player would in a normal contract year. I think he is just starting a little slow. I have every confidence he will turn it around.

 

He has definetly gotten better from the right than in past years (.282 last season from the right). It might be difficult for him to give it up since he has been hitting switch since little league. He has never faced a lefty from the left side of the plate. It might be something that he tries in Spring Training next season if he has another bad year from that side.

 

Didn't Berkman close the season pretty well last year? He should give up hitting from the right though.

 

well, I looked it up - and apparently he hit something in the neighborhood of .350 from the right side of the plate in the second half of the season.

So maybe he should look into continuing that.

 

Except he didn't "reel in the big $$" relative to other players at his position. In fact, even at his performance level last year, he remains a bargain.

And he didn't underperform all that much - he still got on base 40% of the time with a decent slugging percentage - it only looks like underperforming because he had such a bad start and because he'd hit so stellar in the past.

 

Solution: Let him stay a switch hitter. Just play Lane against lefties.

 

i think he said he hasn't batted against lefties left-handed in so long that it wouldn't be worth it to give up switch hitting.

berkman had a low season last year but it was still pretty damn good.