Should Dioner Navarro Stop Switch-Hitting?

by R.J. Anderson on Aug 9, 2009 11:49 PM EDT Comment 12 comments

Since 1901 baseball has seen 40 switch-hitting catchers with 500 career plate appearances. If you want to deplete the potential talent pool quickly, take 1,000 people and sort by the guys who can catch, then filter out the non-switch hitters. You may have one or two potential players. We're living in the golden age of switch-hitting catchers so it seems. Jorge Posada, Victor Martinez, Jason Varitek, Ryan Doumit, Gregg Zaun, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Dioner Navarro, and Josh Bard are playing and batting from both sides. Meanwhile Todd Hundley and Chad Kreuter aren't too far removed.

A few years ago the Rays had a catcher named Javier Valentin. Nothing special, Valentin had 435 big league plate appearances escorted by a .638 OPS. He had one good season but that's not entirely important. What is important is hit ability to hit right-handed pitching. Relative to his left-handed inability, he ripped righties. Maybe he saw the ball better, or was more comfortable, I don't know why, he just did. Later on he finally dropped the switch-hitting act and as it turns out that is the most interesting thing to take from his career. Well, that and his mustache.

With Navarro being the right-handed part of the catcher platoon, it raises the question: at what point do the Rays just tell him to stop switch-hitting all together, much like Valentin? Over the last three years here is how his splits break down:

2006

As LHB v. RHP: .245/.312/.349 (235 PA)

As RHB v. LHP: .286/.403/.375 (67 PA)

2007

As LHB v. RHP: .221/.282/.325 (311 PA)

As RHB v. LHP: .226/.277/.441 (104 PA)

2008

As LHB v. RHP: .308/.361/.406 (351 PA)

As RHB v. LHP: .257/.314/.413 (119 PA)

2009

As LHB v. RHP: .188/.227/.271 (205 PA)

As RHB v. LHP: .289/.297/.454 (105 PA)

Only 395 plate appearances against lefties with OPS nearly .100 points higher. He's obviously got a better power stroke from the right side. We've got enough of a left-handed sample to derive his ability is rather poor. Could he become worse against righties if he hits only from the right side? Maybe, but it's not like he's hitting them well as a lefty anyways.

Even if you date back a bit further in Navarro's career for some added data, you come out with career numbers that indicate he is superior as a right-handed hitter. He's even had about 20 plate appearances as a righty, versus another righty, and fared quite well. Obviously we can't pin too much on a sample size that small, but if Navarro is going to start in this league full-time again, he needs to A) fix his plate discipline, B) consider dropping the novelty approach to hitting, and focus on one side of the plate.

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This is a good argument here

you could say that 2008 was a fluke or just say that Navi is having a bad year this year. Transforming from a switch-hitter to one side isn’t that easy though to do.

by sofladude77 on Aug 9, 2009 11:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

This thread really needs to be bumped up in honor of the Gregg Zaun signing:

http://www.draysbay.com/2008/4/19/415921/one-thing-that-annoys-me

The girls left. According to one patron, Hamilton, piss-drunk by that point, asked the manager where he could buy blow. The manager didn't know. "Let's go to a strip club," Hamilton said. Someone drove Hamilton to Les Girls in Phoenix, Arizona.

by Top Gun Numba 1 on Aug 10, 2009 1:28 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

In general I would agree with this, but he has a difficult task to do if he tries this

because it seems, at least based on OBP – BA that he sees the ball better as a lefthanded batter. This year is seemingly an anomaly for his plate discipline (even zips has him projected up to around 6%, which is better than what he is doing to this point at leeast) as its been passable but not great in the past, but it might not make returning to plate-discipline form if he focuses on the side of the plate where he doesn’t draw his walks.

Regardless, I wouldn’t be surprised if he could put some more power if he hit as a righty, but if he doesn’t gain some speed to beat out more groundballs (his BABIP on groundballs is a good .100 points below where it should be) his batting average wont be high enough to sustain an OBP that, even when coupled with an increased slugging, should equate to more than a .700 ops. If we could live with a .300 OBP/.400 SLG young catcher with maybe some upside then thats fine, but, switch hitting, I think the ceiling is a little higher.

His career as a major league starter may be over if he can’t find some consistency, so this might be the best move, but if he ever wants to experience success like he did last year he should probably stick as a switch hitter. I’m not sure if the situation with Zaun should have us wanting Navarro to try and figure out switch hitting (the fact that he has had a season as good as last year as a lefty batter makes me, and probably the coaches, reluctant to take it away from him) or if we should use this time to convert his batting style to try and reshape his career.

I’m not sure where to get this information (IIRC fangraphs can’t split the discipline numbers for lefty/righty), but, is Navi’s contact rate any different from lefty/righty? Are his in and out of zone swing percentages significant in either direction? This definatley warrants consideration, but it could be killing what could still turn out to be a valuable asset, so before we make any definative statements I’m sure we (and the coaches who have probably already thought about this) can do some more in-depth research.

If you couldn’t tell I think the general idea is intriguing

by Navi's_Navy on Aug 10, 2009 4:42 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Whether lefty or righty

he takes strike one and then swings at whatever is thrown on pitch number 2. Any pitcher can get him out with that pattern.

I can't help that I make some things look easier than they really are.

by Sandy Kazmir on Aug 10, 2009 9:02 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

This is the problem

The pattern is obvious and devastating.

Can David Ortiz please send Dioner Navarro some of his PED's? K? Thanks

by matthan on Aug 10, 2009 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Negative, ghost rider.

by Suttree on Aug 10, 2009 1:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

well, it took a few years for pitchers to exploit it then

but we are much smarter than the majority of people in the game, so thats probably not a surprise that it took them a while? It has been obvious this year, but last year and the year before I just don’t remember this happening (not with the same frequency, anyway) as much. That being said, it also could be that he was helped by performing better (or getting luckier) in other facets of the game.

by Navi's_Navy on Aug 10, 2009 6:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs