Platoon Splits, Then and Now: What the Data Shows
Platooning in baseball — the practice of starting different‑handed batters depending on the pitcher’s handedness — has been part of the sport’s strategy for a long time. Even before the rise of advanced analytics, teams understood that hitters generally perform better against opposite‑handed pitchers. The ball is easier to pick up out of the pitcher’s hand, and breaking balls with horizontal movement tend to move in toward the hitter rather than away. Because of these long‑recognized advantages, managers have often adjusted their lineups instead of relying on a single everyday player. For the sake of using one simple stat, I’ll be looking at OPS (on base plus slugging) throughout this article. Platoon Splits Over Time First, let’s look at how platooning has changed over time. The red line in the graph shows percentages of plate appearances where the batter had the platoon advantage. Starting in the 1960s and through the 1980s, Platoon advantage increased from 50% to upwards of 60...