Reese Kaplan -- Do Platoons Work? They Didn't Help on Saturday

After the Mets made a nice come-from-behind victory against the Angels on Friday there were a a number of Mets fans proclaiming loudly that it was a new month starting off the right way and now we would see the “real” team.  One good game is hardly a trend of correction taking place, but hey, after what’s happened in April you take anything that can be construed this way since there has been so little to celebrate during the early 2026 season.

One of the first signs that things may not be quite so rosy was the starting outfield Carlos Mendoza opted to use for the second game on Saturday night.  In left field the Mets had 33 year old Andy Ibanez, the latest addition from the DFA cesspool of players no longer wanted by their former teams.  Ibanez is a career .251 hitter though lately he hasn’t nearly approached that number.  Over the course of career that began in 2021 he has accumulated 28 HRs and 131 RBIs with the high water marks coming for the Tigers in 2023 when he hit 11 and 41 respectively while hitting .264.  Since then he’s been up 417 times with 9 HRs and 56 RBIs while hitting .235.  Those numbers aren’t bad but his 2026 start with a .118 average demonstrated to his former employer that he was no longer Athletics material.

In center field the Mets inserted solid fielder Tyrone Taylor who is arguably the best 4th outfielder in the game as he could provide late inning defense when starters could be benched for the 8th and 9th innings.  His bat, unfortunately, never reached the same level of acclaim.  For his career he’s a .237 hitter who during a 162 game season would provide markedly similar numbers to Ibanez with a little more power at 14 HRs and 56 RBIs.  Again, these numbers are bench worthy but as a starter?  Probably not.

Out in right field Mendoza opted to use new Met Austin Slater.  He’s a career .247 hitter with an annual average of 10 HRs and 42 RBIs.  Once again David Stearns felt that the club was bolstered by this DFA addition for reasons that are increasingly unclear to fans observing the games.  After all, if a player is cut loose by a team with a better record what makes you think he’s suddenly going to become Tony Gwynn?

Now getting back to Saturday night, it was obvious that the club was going all in with right handed hitters wherever possible as the Angels were starting southpaw Reid Detmers.  Granted the lefty/righty platoon thing is a known component of baseball but it’s not as if Detmers is Steve Carlton reincarnated.  His 4.06 ERA isn’t bat but for his short career he owns a 4.71 mark dating back to 2021.  Think of him as an Angels version of David Peterson though nearly a half run worse in career ERA. 

So how effective is platooning for hitters and pitchers?  .   

Well, according to statisticians the idea of lefty bats facing righty pitchers and righty bats facing lefty pitchers indeed has advantages.  How big?  Well, the number floating around is an 80 point increase in OPS over what is achieved when the opposition pitcher is on the same side as the player bats.  That’s an argument hard to dispute.

On the flip side, southpaws are significantly more effective against left handed hitters.  The metrics are indeed eye opening.  Lefty hitters lose 141 points in OPS when facing a left handed pitcher.  Consequently the prospect of putting a huge number of right handed hitters into the lineup makes some sense indeed. 

Here’s an extended discussion of this concept from Quora:

Lefty-lefty and righty-righty matchups produce a measurable advantage for the pitcher because of how batsmen see and hit a pitched ball, and how pitchers can control movement and release to exploit visual and mechanical weaknesses. Key physical mechanisms:

1. Batter sightline and release geometry

• For same-side matchups (left-handed pitcher vs. left-handed batter, or right vs. right), the pitcher's release point and the incoming ball track originate from a side that partially blocks the batter’s optimal sightline.

• The ball appears to come more "from behind" the batter’s front shoulder, shortening the time the batter has to see spin and trajectory changes before the swing decision must be made.

1. Visual perception and timing

• Batting relies on very small timing and angle cues in the first ~100–150 ms of ball flight. When the pitcher’s release and initial trajectory are on the batter’s glove/shoulder side (same side), the important visual cues (spin axis, seam orientation, lateral motion) are less salient and are revealed later in flight, increasing perceptual uncertainty and timing error.

• Slight delays or misestimates of pitch location/timing reduce contact quality more than equivalent deviations in opposite-side matchups.

1. Lateral movement (sweep) and handedness of movement

• Breaking balls and two-seam/sinker fastballs move laterally due to seam-induced Magnus forces. A left-handed pitcher’s breaking ball tends to move down-and-away from a right-handed batter and down-and-in to a left-handed batter (signs depend on pitch type).

• Same-side pitchers can more easily deliver pitches that move into the batter’s swing path or jam the hands (inside movement), producing weaker contact, more ground balls, and more swings at pitches that break back toward the bat’s handle where it is harder to extend and square up.

1. Platoon-specific pitch repertoires and release angles

• Many pitchers have better command and spin characteristics on certain pitch types (e.g., a lefty with a sweeping slider that naturally moves away from righties but jams lefties). When facing same-side hitters, pitchers can exploit their best pitch shapes and release angles with less fear of a batter turning it the other way.

• Release point alignment with batter handedness changes perceived horizontal location: a same-side pitcher can make a pitch look like the plate is farther inside or outside relative to the hitter’s swing path.

1. Swing mechanics and lane of the bat

• A batter’s swing plane and bat path are tuned by handedness. Same-side movement tends to either run into the hitter’s hands (jam) or move under/behind the bat path, producing weak contact or swings and misses.

• Opposite-side movement more often runs away from the bat’s sweet spot or invites hitching the barrel to reach outside pitches; some hitters handle that better than being jammed.

1. Statistical and strategic reinforcement

• Over many at-bats, these small perceptual and mechanical disadvantages aggregate into lower batting averages, lower slugging, and higher strikeout/ground-ball rates versus same-handed pitchers.

• Managers exploit this by matching handedness: bringing in a same-side reliever for a tough matchup and platooning batters to maximize favorable lefty-righty splits.

 Practical summary

• The advantage is a compound effect of altered sightlines/timing, pitch movement relative to the batter’s swing path, and pitcher command/repertoire aligning with those movements. These physical effects are small each at-bat but consistent enough to produce significant career- and season-level platoon splits.

However, you also need to consider the best case and worst case scenarios with these platoons as well as evaluating whether or not the platoon becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.  No one can evaluate other than through historical records how many lefties vs. how many righties a hitter will face. 

Consider the players the Mets have on their rosters and you really do need to wonder whether or not the platooning makes sense.  We’ve already looked at the career numbers of the three starting outfielders and you have to wonder if, for example, MJ Melendez who is hitting .323 with a pair of home runs in his 31 ABs would have served the team better with a bat in his hand than sitting on the bench doing nothing.  Similarly, neither Brett Baty nor Mark Vientos have demonstrated the ability to dominate with a bat in their hands, so you have to wonder if limiting their ABs is going to help improve things.

As it turn out, Slater got two hits on Saturday night, Vientos got a hit and Ibanez went 0-2 but did drive in a run.  So maybe there is some truth after all.