Lefty Matt Olson: most season Home Runs off lefty pitchers: 22 but not in his 54 HR season. 9 of 10: better HR rate against lefties.

Babe Ruth: better career Home Run rate against lefties among 19 lefty batters with at least 100 HR against lefty pitchers. Saturday, August 10, 2024

Babe Ruth is the only one with better Home Run rates against lefty pitchers than against righty pitchers, both PA/HR and AB/HR. Mel Ott also has a better PA/HR but not as good as Ruth.

This is among the 19 lefty batters with at least 100 career Home Runs (HR) against lefty pitchers ...

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Season data used here was derived from:

In the Regular Season, from 1901 to 2024, Bats LH, vs LHP (within Platoon Splits), requiring Home Runs >= 17, sorted by greatest Home Runs.

https://stathead.com/tiny/gT78d

Event-level data (such as inning, platoon splits, leverage, etc.) is complete back to 1969, nearly complete back to 1950, and mostly complete back to 1912.

Rk	I	Player	Split	Year	G	HR	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB
1		Matt Olson	vs LHP	2021	112	22	254	222	44	60	9	0	50	26	46	.270	.354	.608	.962	135
2		Barry Bonds	vs LHP	2002	83	21	178	125	37	48	9	1	45	45	16	.384	.556	.976	1.532	122
3		Ken Griffey Jr.	vs LHP	1998	97	21	197	177	31	53	6	1	47	16	33	.299	.360	.701	1.061	124
4		Ken Griffey Jr.	vs LHP	1996	94	21	186	158	38	47	5	1	53	20	33	.298	.382	.741	1.122	117
5		Ted Kluszewski	vs LHP	1955	87	20	253	221	48	72	7	0	49	26	19	.326	.395	.629	1.024	139
6		Darryl Strawberry	vs LHP	1988	105	20	245	216	37	54	7	0	52	24	54	.250	.318	.560	.879	121
7		Reggie Jackson	vs LHP	1980	102	19	254	227	34	66	7	1	54	25	69	.291	.362	.582	.944	132
8	I	Stan Musial	vs LHP	1949	94	19	325	286	50	80	14	4	43	37	23	.280	.366	.556	.922	159
9		Babe Ruth	vs LHP	1927	77	19	207	158	41	51	5	1	46	47	34	.323	.476	.728	1.204	115
10		Cody Bellinger	vs LHP	2019	112	18	228	193	36	54	7	0	44	34	38	.280	.386	.596	.982	115
11	I	Don Hurst	vs LHP	1929	71	18	224	202	38	67	10	0	49	16	18	.332	.377	.649	1.025	131
12		Don Mattingly	vs LHP	1985	109	18	292	264	41	76	20	0	66	18	16	.288	.328	.568	.896	150
13	I	Stan Musial	vs LHP	1948	76	18	237	207	47	85	20	7	58	28	13	.411	.485	.836	1.321	173
14		Shohei Ohtani	vs LHP	2021	104	18	224	198	35	52	10	5	34	23	69	.263	.344	.636	.980	126
15		David Ortiz	vs LHP	2006	107	18	241	205	38	57	13	1	44	30	48	.278	.373	.615	.988	126
16		Barry Bonds	vs LHP	2001	95	17	189	141	29	44	9	1	34	44	34	.312	.487	.752	1.239	106
17		Barry Bonds	vs LHP	1990	121	17	277	240	46	73	14	2	58	31	41	.304	.386	.592	.978	142
18		Darrell Evans	vs LHP	1973	112	17	307	248	48	76	11	4	45	52	51	.307	.428	.589	1.016	146
19	I	Babe Ruth	vs LHP	1929	55	17	170	147	38	47	4	3	44	16	21	.320	.388	.735	1.123	108

Provided by Stathead.com: Found with Stathead. See Full Results.
Generated 8/10/2024.

The I in column 2 indicates that the data is incomplete. Complete data is from seasons since 1968. Before 1968 most data is complete but not all.

Seasons above for at least 19 lefty v. lefty homers has only one incomplete season and includes Ruth's 60 HR season in 1927. Musial will be omitted because only 30 of his 36 HR are defined.

Bonds 73 HR season is included below ... for the heck of it. That makes ten seasons being examined.

				L	R	T	L	L	R	T
Rk	I	Player	Year	HR	HR	HR	%HR	AB	AB	AB	Player
1		Matt Olson	2021	22	17	39	56.4%	222	343	565	Olson
2		Barry Bonds	2002	21	25	46	45.7%	125	278	403	Bonds
3		Ken Griffey Jr.	1998	21	35	56	37.5%	177	456	633	Griffey Jr.
4		Ken Griffey Jr.	1996	21	28	49	42.9%	158	387	545	Griffey Jr.
5		Ted Kluszewski	1955	20	27	47	42.6%	221	391	612	Kluszewski
6		Darryl Strawberry	1988	20	19	39	51.3%	216	327	543	Strawberry
7		Reggie Jackson	1980	19	22	41	46.3%	227	287	514	Jackson
9		Babe Ruth	1927	19	41	60	31.7%	158	382	540	Ruth
16		Barry Bonds	2001	17	56	73	23.3%	141	335	476	Bonds
		max	2021	22	56	73	56.4%	227	456	633	max
		min	1927	17	17	39	23.3%	125	278	403	min

Olson and Strawberry hit more HR against lefty pitchers. All ten batters had fewer At Bats (AB) against lefty pitchers.

AB/HR (lower is better):

example against lefties:

dif: T (total) AB/HR - L (lefties) AB/HR

%dif: T-L dif / (T AB/HR)

		L	R	T	T-L	T-R	T-L	T-R
Player	Year	AB/HR	AB/HR	AB/HR	dif	dif	%dif	%dif	Player
Matt Olson	2021	10.09	20.18	14.49	4.40	-5.69	30.35%	-39.27%	Olson
Barry Bonds	2002	5.95	11.12	8.76	2.81	-2.36	32.06%	-26.93%	Bonds
Ken Griffey Jr.	1998	8.43	13.03	11.30	2.88	-1.73	25.43%	-15.26%	Griffey Jr.
Ken Griffey Jr.	1996	7.52	13.82	11.12	3.60	-2.70	32.35%	-24.27%	Griffey Jr.
Ted Kluszewski	1955	11.05	14.48	13.02	1.97	-1.46	15.14%	-11.21%	Kluszewski
Darryl Strawberry	1988	10.80	17.21	13.92	3.12	-3.29	22.43%	-23.61%	Strawberry
Reggie Jackson	1980	11.95	13.05	12.54	.59	-.51	4.70%	-4.06%	Jackson
Babe Ruth	1927	8.32	9.32	9.00	.68	-.32	7.60%	-3.52%	Ruth
Barry Bonds	2001	8.29	5.98	6.52	-1.77	.54	-27.20%	8.26%	Bonds
max	2021	11.95	20.18	14.49	4.40	.54	32.35%	8.26%	max
min	1927	5.95	5.98	6.52	-1.77	-5.69	-27.20%	-39.27%	min

Only Bonds in 2001 when he hit 73 HR had a better (lower) HR rate (AB/HR) against righties. The other nine lefty batters among these with the most HR in a season against lefties all had lower AB/HR against lefty pitchers. Very surprising.

Generic averages:

	L	L	L	L	L	R	R	R	R	T	T	T	T
Player	Year	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Matt Olson	2021	.270	.354	.608	.962	.271	.382	.496	.878	.271	.371	.540	.911
Barry Bonds	2002	.384	.556	.976	1.532	.363	.592	.719	1.312	.370	.582	.799	1.381
Ken Griffey Jr.	1998	.299	.360	.701	1.061	.279	.367	.577	.944	.284	.365	.611	.976
Ken Griffey Jr.	1996	.298	.382	.741	1.122	.305	.397	.581	.978	.303	.392	.628	1.020
Ted Kluszewski	1955	.326	.395	.629	1.024	.307	.374	.560	.934	.314	.382	.585	.967
Darryl Strawberry	1988	.250	.318	.560	.879	.281	.395	.535	.930	.269	.366	.545	.911
Reggie Jackson	1980	.291	.362	.582	.944	.307	.424	.610	1.033	.300	.398	.597	.995
Babe Ruth	1927	.323	.476	.728	1.204	.369	.479	.791	1.270	.356	.486	.772	1.258
Barry Bonds	2001	.312	.487	.752	1.239	.334	.526	.910	1.437	.328	.515	.863	1.378
max	2021	.384	.556	.976	1.532	.369	.592	.910	1.437	.370	.582	.863	1.381
min	1927	.250	.318	.560	.879	.271	.367	.496	.878	.269	.365	.540	.911

Don't just stare at totals.