​​​​​​​​​​LEFTHANDED BASEBALL

The Best Lefthanded Batters and Lefthanded Pitchers in Baseball

Luis Arraez of the Marlins is 3rd in hits with 191 hits and leads MLB with a .349 batting average 

Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers leads MLB in doubles with 55, is 2nd in hits with 194, and is 2nd with a .337 batting average 

Matt Olson of the Braves leads MLB  in home runs with 51 and in RBI with 128.

Kyle Tucker of the Astros has 27 home runs, 105 runs batted in, and a .285 batting average

Max Muncy of the Dodgers has 35 home runs and 98 runs batted in.

Rafael Devers of the Red Sox has 31 home runs and 95 runs batted in

Shohei Ohtani of the Angels has 44 home runs, 95 runs batted in, and a .304 batting average

Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies has 43 home runs and 94 runs batted in.


Blake Snell of the Padres has a league best ERA of 2.43. along with a 14-9 win-loss record, and 217 strikeouts in 167 innings pitched

Justin Steele of the Cubs is 2nd in ERA with 2.49 and has a 16-3 win-loss record, along with 159 strikeouts and only 33 walks in 159 innings pitched.//////

Framber Valdez of the Astros pitched a no-hitter on August 1st, and has a 11-10 record with a 3.32 ERA and 178 strikeouts in 181 inning pitched.

Clayton Kershaw of the Dodgers has 12 wins, 4 losses, and a 2.61 ERA, and 123 strikeouts in 117 innings pitched, but has only made 21 starts due to various injuries. 

We'll take a closer look at the statistics and the trends after the season ends

The new rules that MLB instituted for 2023 all seem to have improved the game.

The pitch clock has elimated a lot of previously wasted time and shortened game time.
The changes to the bases and the rules regarding holding runners have increased stolen bases.

Perhaps most important change for 2023 is the rule limiting the defensive shift, which has
opened up the field so that base hits can fall into all the places in the field they should fall in.

Overall batting averages increased from last year, and most of that improvement has come from lefthanded batters.  Elimating the shift has revived the careers of quite a few lefthanded batters.

MLB 2023 has been an exciting season and with the regular season ending October 1st,

and there are still 16 teams with a real shot at making the playoffs.

There are fewer lefthanded pitchers having stellar seasons, but these four stand out

Best Lefthanded Performers of 2023

as of September 15th

The 2023 Major League Baseball Season

As of September 15th, lefthanded batters account for...

Six of the top ten in batting average, (including the top three of Luis Arraez, Corey Seager, and Freddie Freeman), plus seven of the top ten in On Base Percentage, five of the top ten in Slugging Percentage and seven of the top ten in OPS (on base plus slugging percentage).

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