Left-handed hitters describe the craft of hitting lefty pitching

Last year, only 53 left-handed major-league batters faced southpaw pitchers at least 100 times, tied for the lowest number of players since at least 2002. This year, there are only 45 left-handed hitters with 100 or more plate appearances against left-handers through play Tuesday. That cohort is set to decline in numbers for a fourth straight full season. There were 67 in 2013.

More and more, data drives lineup decisions and takes many left-handed hitters out of the lineups against southpaws. Right-handed batters face right-handed pitchers in the majority of their plate appearances because, of course, they are of the dominant handedness, but teams generally try to limit left-on-left exposure. On the surface, there is a good reason for this.

Over the last six seasons, there has been a 17-point wRC+ gap between left-handed hitting performance against lefties compared to right-handers but only a 10.5-point gap for right-handed hitters when facing lefty pitchers versus righties.