![]() … shortstops-handling the most demanding fielding position on the diamond, the position from which hard, accurate, often off-balance right-handed throwing is a vital skill-display the lowest degree of straight left-handed hitting of any position, indicating that “true” dominant right-handedness is rewarded at shortstop as nowhere else in baseball.īut has this extremely small population of shortstops nonetheless produced a disproportionate share of the all-time greatest performers at the position, as we’ve seen is the case at third base and at second? The best There are not, and never have been, very many left-handed hitting shortstops at all.Īs for why this might be, recall our speculation: ![]() In half a century this population only briefly has poked its head above the 10 percent mark, occasionally has approached zero, and typically has hovered somewhere around 5 percent. Yes indeed, lefty-hitting catchers and third basemen are rare, and lefty-hitting second basemen more rare, but lefty-hitting shortstops are rarer still. How rare are they?Īs a reminder, here’s what we saw in Part 1, the proportion of major league shortstop plate appearances taken by straight left-handed batters (not switch-hitters) from 1957 through 2006: Now we’re ready to consider the most challenging fielding position of all. In Part 2 we examined the best of these rare birds at the position of catcher, in Part 3 we looked at third base, and in Part 4 at second base. Much like Taipei, Japan was shocked early as it fell behind in the first inning against the Czech Republic after shortstop Takumu Nakano had a throwing error to first base that allowed a run to score.īut after two innings of being held scoreless, Japan's red-hot offense came to life in the third inning as Yoshida continued his dominance at the plate, driving in two of the team's three runs in the inning to give Japan the lead.In Part 1, we introduced the concept of the rarity of right-handed throwers who bat left-handed, identifying how rare it’s been over the past half-century for players at the defensive positions which nearly universally demand right-handed throwers (catcher, third base, second base and shortstop) to be left-handed hitters-not switch-hitters (though they’re rare too), but straight, full-on left-handed hitters, batting lefty even against southpaws. Elian Leyva got the win after striking out four batters in 2.1 innings of work. Yoán Moncada and Erisbel Arruebarrena each went deep to help give Cuba a 7-1 win over Chinese Taipei and perhaps give them the run differential needed to advance.Ĭuba scored six of their seven runs in the first two innings to run starter Shih-Peng Chen out of the game in 1.1 innings.Ĭhinese Taipei did not score a run until the top of the ninth inning, as Cuba's pitching staff used five pitchers to go through the first eight innings scoreless. Cuba 7, Chinese Taipei 1Ĭuba may have played itself into the next round. Taipei will now look to secure its place in the quarterfinals with a win over Cuba on Saturday night. The team is looking to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time ever. It was the second time Mexico clawed itself back into the game.Ĭolombia took advantage of Mexico's mistakes in the 10th inning, however, as it was able to drive in the go-ahead run on a fielding error and went on to win 5-4. It went into extra innings after Mexico managed to tie it up at four in the seventh inning. It was a back-and-forth affair that displayed some of the best action of Pool play thus far. ![]() The most exciting game of the day came in the Pool C opener between Mexico and Colombia. While Masataka Yoshida and Shohei Ohtani were once again the stars at the plate for Japan, the real story of the game was 21-year-old pitching sensation Rōki Sasaki, who struck out eight batters in just 3.2 innings of work. Japan continued its hot streak, scoring double-digit runs for a second consecutive game in its 10-2 win over the Czech Republic. Taipei has now won two games in a row after losing its debut match. Meanwhile, over in Pool A one of the tournament's heavyweights was taken down as the previously undefeated Netherlands lost to Chinese Taipei 9-5. ![]()
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