Is the Yankees right-handedness at the plate a problem?

There’s a prevailing narrative surrounding the New York Yankees hitters. That narrative states that the Yankees are too right-handed as a lineup and that has had a negative effect on the team’s offensive output. It’s driving a lot of the calls for an offensive shake up this offseason and even has some Yankees beat reporters like Joel Sherman speculating about the Yankees trading Gleyber Torres and Luke Voit just to fix this so called problem. When you take a hard look at the statistical splits however, you can clearly see that the Yankees don’t have a problem with a right-hand heavy line-up. In fact, it may be their strength.

Vs right-handed pitching

In 2020, there were 1,796 games started by pitchers that threw 8,589.2 innings. There were also 6,166 appearances made by relief pitchers that in total threw 6,879 innings. The total appearances by right-handed pitchers (RHP) were 1,782 games while left-handed pitchers (LHP) appeared in 1,351 games. The disparity in plate appearances against is much greater. LHPs totaled 17,714 plate appearances against while RHPs almost tripled that number with 48,434 plate appearances against. The bottom line is that hitters across the league will see a right-hander a lot more than they will see a left-hander.

The great Yankees roster of yesteryear have had All-Star left-handed hitters (and switch hitters) up and down the lineup from Paul O’Neill to Robinson Cano. In 2020, the big names were all right-handed hitters for the most part. The common baseball fan would tell you that the Yankees didn’t put their best foot forward because they routinely would not have the platoon advantage. Do the statistics support that theory?

Split	PA	H	2B	3B	HR	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
vs RHP	1697	371	70	6	74	197	364	0.254	0.350	0.461	0.811	119
vs LHP	498	98	15	1	19	52	113	0.223	0.312	0.392	0.704	92

That’s a resounding no. Across the board the Yankees performed better against RHP vs LHP. They produced extra base hits in 8.8% of their plate appearances vs RHPs compared to 7% of their plate appearances against LHPs. Their BABIP was 31 points higher (.287 vs .256) against RHP compared to LHP. The number that sums it up best is the team’s OPS+ of 119 vs RHP, which is 27 points higher than the 92 OPS+ they produced against LHPs. Let’s look at the individual player’s numbers vs RHPs and LHPs.

Name	Split	PA	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
LeMahieu	vs RHP	172	34	55	6	1	10	23	14	19	0.355	0.413	0.600	1.013	172
LeMahieu	vs LHP	43	6	15	3	1	0	4	4	2	0.385	0.442	0.513	0.955	161
Judge	vs RHP	86	18	20	3	0	6	14	8	23	0.263	0.341	0.539	0.881	135
Judge	vs LHP	28	5	6	0	0	3	8	2	9	0.240	0.321	0.600	0.921	144
Voit	vs RHP	181	32	48	5	0	16	40	12	42	0.291	0.348	0.612	0.960	155
Voit	vs LHP	52	9	10	0	0	6	11	5	12	0.213	0.288	0.596	0.884	133
Fraizer	vs RHP	122	18	26	4	1	6	20	22	35	0.265	0.402	0.510	0.912	147
Fraizer	vs LHP	37	5	8	1	0	2	6	3	9	0.250	0.351	0.469	0.820	122
Sanchez	vs RHP	137	15	20	3	0	8	18	9	48	0.161	0.241	0.379	0.620	66
Sanchez	vs LHP	38	3	2	1	0	1	3	9	16	0.069	0.289	0.207	0.496	40
Urshela	vs RHP	137	21	38	9	0	6	29	11	19	0.314	0.365	0.537	0.902	142
Urshela	vs LHP	36	2	7	2	0	0	1	7	6	0.241	0.389	0.310	0.699	96
Torres	vs RHP	120	14	25	6	0	2	11	17	22	0.245	0.358	0.363	0.721	98
Torres	vs LHP	40	3	8	2	0	1	5	5	6	0.235	0.350	0.382	0.732	101

Of the hitters listed above, only Judge and Torres produced better numbers against LHPs than RHPs. All but Torres and Sanchez produced OPS+ of 135 or greater vs RHPs and I wouldn’t even include Sanchez in that argument because he was terrible no matter who was on the mound in 2020. The 2020 Yankees had a reverse platoon split even with a mostly right-handed hitting lineup and the numbers show it.

Did the right-handed hitters take advantage of Yankee Stadium?

It’s been 11 years since Yankee Stadium 3.0 opened its gates and we all know the reputation the home ballpark has with fans. It’s a home run hitter’s haven and especially so for left-handed hitters with the infamous short porch. The best way to take advantage of the short porch is to pull the ball but it’s not possible to pull the ball to right field as a right-handed hitter. You would have to go the other way. The problem is that traditionally, you don’t associate great power numbers with players who utilize opposite field hitting. At least that was the way most people thought about hitting to all fields. Looking at the Yankees statistics at going the opposite way and hitting at Yankee Stadium, you have to question the old way of thinking about hitting.

Split	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	OPS+
Home	1148	991	191	264	50	5	67	184	136	238	0.266	0.363	0.530	0.892	0.286	133
Away	1062	924	124	209	37	2	27	117	115	242	0.226	0.319	0.358	0.677	0.275	90

Split	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	OPS+
Pulled-RHB	303	303	86	126	30	0	32	85	0.416	0.416	0.832	1.248	0.347	115
Up Mdle-RHB	561	558	105	161	21	2	28	99	0.289	0.287	0.484	0.771	0.250	82
Opp Fld-RHB	187	183	50	77	10	2	20	50	0.421	0.412	0.825	1.237	0.341	197

Our right-handed hitters absolutely destroyed pitchers when they went the opposite way. To be fair, they destroyed pitching when pulling the ball as well. The right-handed hitters had a basically the same OPS against RHPs when they pulling the ball (1.248) as they did going the opposite way (1.237). They definitely pulled the ball more however as they had 116 more plate appearances that ended with the hitter pulling the ball. That makes sense though as you will rarely see a player pull the ball substantially less often than they hit it to the opposite field. One such player is DJ LeMahieu. Look at these numbers:

Name	Split	PA	H	2B	3B	HR	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	OPS+
DJ LeMahieu	Pulled-RHB	29	12	4	0	3	0.414	0.414	0.862	1.276	0.346	119
DJ LeMahieu	Opp Fld-RHB	55	31	3	1	7	0.574	0.564	1.056	1.619	0.500	292

The Yankees better lock this guy up and that’s all I will say on that matter. The two caveats to the Yankees destroying pitchers regardless of whether the ball was hit to left field or right field were that they didn’t hit well up the middle and they didn’t hit well on the road. Going back to the home/road splits, the Yankees had an OPS of .892 at home but a paltry .677 on the road. The biggest reason for that difference in OPS comes as a result of their power disappearing on the road. They slugged 172 points higher in YS3 (.530 vs .358) compared to other stadiums. Your production is going to tank when you can’t hit the anything out of the ballpark.

In conclusion, the Yankees don’t have a major issue with a right-handed heavy lineup. The real issue comes from the fact that they don’t have a lineup built for offensive production playing 81 games outside of the Bronx. There were a lot of variables in 2020 that we hopefully won’t see in play come the 2021 season. In order to get a well-rounded performance next season, the “Right-Handed Bombers” need to find a way to produce better outcomes on the road. Otherwise they need to try their best to lock-up home field advantage and pray they can win every game at Yankee Stadium come October.