JETHAWKS NOTEBOOK: JETHAWKS FEELING LEFT OUT VS. LEFTIES.Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer LANCASETER - So far this season, left-handed pitchers have been a mystery to the JetHawks. They are 6-14 in games against left-handed starters this season, compared to 30-40 against right-handers. Part of the problem is the California League The California League is a minor league baseball league which operates throughout the state of California. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High-A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth happens to have an especially good crop of left-handed pitchers this season, including San Bernardino's Craig Anderson Craig Anderson may refer to::
On paper at least, the JetHawks figure to match up well against lefties. Their two biggest power threats, Billy Martin and Ryan Jones Ryan Paul Jones (born 13 March 1981 in Newport) is a rugby union player who plays number 8 for the Ospreys and Wales. He played junior football for Bristol City as a goalkeeper until the age of 14. He took up rugby union at age 16 to be with his friends. - who've combined for 34 homers - both bat from the right side. J.D. Closser and Matt Kata Matthew John Kata (born on March 14, 1978 in Fairview Park, Ohio) is a professional baseball player. Currently a free agent, he most recently appeared in Major League Baseball as a member of the the Pittsburgh Pirates. He stands 6'1" and weighs 195 lbs. , among the team's most productive hitters, are switch-hitters. Martin has been far more productive against right-handers. He's batting .314 (81 for 258) against them compared to .222 (12 for 54) against lefties. He has hit 16 of his 18 homers against right-handers. Martin said he experienced similar problems against southpaws last season at Single-A South Bend South Bend, city (1990 pop. 105,511), seat of St. Joseph co., N Ind., on the great south bend of the St. Joseph River, in a farming and mint-growing region; inc. as a city 1865. (Ind.). He believes he's less productive against lefties in part because he doesn't see enough of them, and because of their tendency to nibble Half a byte (four bits). (data) nibble - /nib'l/ (US "nybble", by analogy with "bite" -> "byte") Half a byte. Since a byte is nearly always eight bits, a nibble is nearly always four bits (and can therefore be represented by one hex digit). . ``It seems like when lefty is pitching he really makes me hit his pitch more often and I walk more often,'' he said. Martin has drawn 16 of his minor-league-leading 68 walks against left- handers. Jones, in his ninth season in pro ball, is batting .280 (66 for 236) against right-handers, compared to .271 (19 for 70) against lefties. He explained that even though right-handed hitters pick up the ball quicker against lefties, the different type of movement they get makes it more difficult to read. Pitches from lefties tend to tail away from right-handers, compared to the inward movement right-handed pitchers get against right-handed hitters, Jones said. ``You have to change your approach against lefties,'' he said. ``The main thing about hitting against lefties is that you've got to try to use the whole field.'' JetHawks manager Scott Coolbaugh Scott Robert Coolbaugh (June 13, 1966 in Binghamton, New York) is an American former baseball player. Coolbaugh played Major League Baseball from 1989 to 1991 for the Texas Rangers and San Diego Padres and in 1994 for the St. Louis Cardinals. said the JetHawks have struggled against left-handers because they haven't taken outside pitches to the opposite field, instead hitting a lot of weak ground balls. ``You always have to be able to make some kind of adjustment in this game and we just haven't been able to do that against left-handers,'' Coolbaugh said. ``You don't see the left-handers as much and it's a little different look. Left-handers are a little funky when they throw.'' |
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