More Opportunity for Platoons in 2020
In writing my piece about Mike Vail yesterday, I noted the success Vail enjoyed in a platoon situation while with the Cubs. It called to mind a time when you were much more likely to see two players share a position in a platoon.
It definitely was a part of Mets history, including both world Series winners. In 1969, manager Gil Hodges utilized platoons at first base (Ed Kranepool and Donn Clendenon, second base (primarily Ken Boswell and Al Weis), third base (Wayne Garrett and Ed Charles) and right field (Art Shamsky and Ron Swoboda). In 1986, manager Davey Johnson used platoons, also. Wally Backman and Tim Tuefel shared second base, Hojo and Ray Knight at 3B (not a strict platoon as Knight enjoyed a solid offensive year), and, particularly after George Foster was released, Davey Johnson mixed and matched in LF with Danny Heep, Kevin Mitchell and Mookie Wilson. Wilson would also spell Dykstra in CF occasionally against lefties.
The reason both managers chose to utilize platooning was to boost offense. The 1969 Mets were not an offensive juggernaut by any means. By using platoons, Hodges was able to coax a few extra runs out of the team. With Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Gary Gentry leading the rotation, an extra run or two was all that was needed. As for Davey Johnson, he always looked for ways to maximize offense. I remember former Mets beat writer Marty Noble saying that Johnson always told him that you couldn't win a 0-0 game. Besides platooning, Johnson would famously play Howard Johnson or Kevin Mitchell at shortstop when extreme fly ball pitcher Sid Fernandez was pitching to try to tweak out some extra offense.
Platooning has become less common, particularly at multiple positions. Changes in the way both starters and relievers are used necessitated carrying more pitchers and fewer position players. Your bench needs to have at least one backup catcher and another guy capable of catching in an emergency. You need to have backups at key positions. In the National League you need pinch hitters and, at least before this year, had to have players available to double switch into games. Having versatile bench players became more important than having platoon options.
I'd be interested to see if more platooning comes back into the game. Now that the DH is in the National League, and rosters have grown to 26, the opportunity would seem to be there to construct a roster favorable to that strategy. Even if a team elected to carry 12 pitchers, that would still allow for 5 bench players. I could easily see a team electing to straight platoon at a couple of positions.
The arguments for platooning are pretty simple. The vast majority of right-handed hitters hit much better off of left handers than against righties. The opposite is true for left-handed hitters. You're not going to platoon your best players, of course, they do enough damage against all pitchers. You're going to use platoons to shore up positions where you don't have a top talent.
In the case of those Mets teams from the 80s, you had a player like Wally Backman. Even though he was a switch hitter, he was much, much better as a left-handed hitter. For his career, Backman slashed .294/.364 /362 against righties and .165 /.258/.201 vs. lefties. As long as you paired Wally with a solid right-handed hitting second baseman you could be sure of really solid numbers from that position. The offense would have taken a huge hit if Backman played every day. I'm sure Wally would have argued that he would have hit lefties better if he played every day, but he would have had to have picked it up quite a bit to be anything more than a second pitcher in the lineup facing lefties.
Most teams don't have the budget to play stars at every position. Platooning is a way to combine 2 pretty good ballplayers and create the offensive output of a much better ballplayer. It's a way of deepening your lineup without breaking the bank. I'd love to see a team like the Mets utilize this strategy going forward.
Platooning has become less common, particularly at multiple positions. Changes in the way both starters and relievers are used necessitated carrying more pitchers and fewer position players. Your bench needs to have at least one backup catcher and another guy capable of catching in an emergency. You need to have backups at key positions. In the National League you need pinch hitters and, at least before this year, had to have players available to double switch into games. Having versatile bench players became more important than having platoon options.
I'd be interested to see if more platooning comes back into the game. Now that the DH is in the National League, and rosters have grown to 26, the opportunity would seem to be there to construct a roster favorable to that strategy. Even if a team elected to carry 12 pitchers, that would still allow for 5 bench players. I could easily see a team electing to straight platoon at a couple of positions.
The arguments for platooning are pretty simple. The vast majority of right-handed hitters hit much better off of left handers than against righties. The opposite is true for left-handed hitters. You're not going to platoon your best players, of course, they do enough damage against all pitchers. You're going to use platoons to shore up positions where you don't have a top talent.
In the case of those Mets teams from the 80s, you had a player like Wally Backman. Even though he was a switch hitter, he was much, much better as a left-handed hitter. For his career, Backman slashed .294/.364 /362 against righties and .165 /.258/.201 vs. lefties. As long as you paired Wally with a solid right-handed hitting second baseman you could be sure of really solid numbers from that position. The offense would have taken a huge hit if Backman played every day. I'm sure Wally would have argued that he would have hit lefties better if he played every day, but he would have had to have picked it up quite a bit to be anything more than a second pitcher in the lineup facing lefties.
Most teams don't have the budget to play stars at every position. Platooning is a way to combine 2 pretty good ballplayers and create the offensive output of a much better ballplayer. It's a way of deepening your lineup without breaking the bank. I'd love to see a team like the Mets utilize this strategy going forward.
2 comments:
It should appeal to the more frugal owners as platoon partners wouldn't get the big single paycheck of a traditional starter.
The managers in 2020 will be renamed Platoon Sargeants - and yes, I march to a different beat.
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