Switch Hitting at the Major League level requires a batter to master swinging from both sides of the plate. Don’t get me wrong; there are advantages to being able to switch hit. Since most pitchers tend to throw right-handed, their breaking pitches will move further away, making it harder for a right-handed hitter to hit. That leads to the idea of being able to alternate by hitting from the left side of the batter’s box when there’s a right-hander on the mound and by hitting from the right side of the box when there’s a left-hander on the mound. The other advantage is hitting from the left side of the plate, your closer to first base after you get a hit.
Disadvantage of Switch Hitting
However, if you think about it, Switch Hitting isn’t easy to master. As I said, if you are dominant in hitting right-handed, to switch hit at the pro level, you need to be effective in hitting left-handed. Think of it this way: Switch Hitters at the pro level take twice as much batting practice as other hitters to keep their swings sharp. One of the hardest things to do in sports is making contact with a baseball at the pro level; when you consider the amount of time and effort physically and mentally it takes to master your swing in order to make contact, from both sides of the plate, you got to be impressed when someone can do it.
Mount Rushmore of Switch Hitters
There have been many Switch Hitters in baseball history; however, in terms of switch hitters who are in the Hall of Fame, there are only six of them when you count Ozzie Smith, but he’s in the Hall of Fame because of his glove. So, in regards to the Mount Rushmore of Switch Hitters, three of them are Hall of Famers, and the other one should be in the Hall of Fame. Before I rate them, the four guys are Mickey Mantle, Pete Rose, Eddie Murray, and Chipper Jones. Before I rate these four guys, I’d like to point out that since most pitchers throw right-handed, the majority of their career At Bats was taken by them hitting left-handed.
#4 Eddie Murray (1977-1997):
Lifetime Stats: .287 BA 3,255 HITS 504 HR 1,917 RBI 1,627 RUNS .359 OBP 1,333 BB 1,516 SO (11,336 At Bats)
As LHH: .293 BA 2,233 HITS 362 HR 1,341 RBI 1,139 RUNS .369 OBP 958 BB 1,074 SO (7,628 At Bats)
As RHH: .276 BA 1,022 HITS 142 HR 576 RBI 488 RUNS .340 OBP 375 BB 442 SO (3,708 At Bats)
Murray is the all-time leader in RBIs among Switch Hitters with 1,917. Murray is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and rightfully so, surpassing the two magical milestones of 3,000 Hits and 500 Home Runs. Murray was highly durable, playing twenty-one seasons, mainly at First Base; he appeared in 150 or more Games 16 times. At the plate, Murray had multiple years of batting .300 or higher, driving in 100 or more RBIs and recording more Walks than Strikeouts. Murray finished top-5 in the MVP voting six times in his career, runner-up in 1982-83. Most of his best years were with the Baltimore Orioles, and if you look at his numbers from the age of 21-40, Murray sustained himself as an above-average hitter in baseball. Playing all those games every year, Murray only once struck out more than 100 times in a season, his rookie year.
I gotta put Murray as #4, which isn’t a knock. Unlike the other three guys, Murray never won an MVP and played a relatively easier fielding position than the other guys. Nonetheless, Murray is the Mount Rushmore of the few who have mastered Switch Hitting.
#3 Chipper Jones (1993; 95-12)
Lifetime Stats: .303 BA 2,726 HITS 468 HR 1,673 RBI 1,619 RUNS .401 OBP 1,512 BB 1,409 SO (8,984 At Bats)
as LHH: .303 BA 1,956 HITS 361 HR 1,206 RBI 1,225 RUNS .405 OBP 1,144 BB 1,005 SO (6,451 At Bats)
as RHH: .304 BA 770 HITS 107 HR 417 RBI 394 RUNS .391 OBP 368 BB 404 SO (2,533 At Bats)
Over the span of 19 seasons, all being with the Atlanta Braves, playing Third Base, he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. As a Switch Hitter, he batted over .300 from both sides of the plate. For 10 years, Chipper Jones had a Batting Average of .300 or higher and an on-base percentage of .400 or higher, including nine seasons with 100 or more Runs Batted In. nine times. Also, Jones had more career Walks than Strikeouts. Playing a relatively challenging position of Third Base, Jones was consistently one of the top hitters in all of baseball, winning the MVP in 1999. Based on his offensive numbers, not only is Jones rightfully on the Mount Rushmore of Switch Hitters, he’s also on the Mount Rushmore of Third Baseman.
The gap between Mantle, Rose, and Jones isn’t big, but those guys are just slightly better than Jones, which I will get into.
#2 Pete Rose (1963-1986)
Lifetime Stats: .303 BA 4,256 HITS 160 HR 1,314 RBI 2,165 RUNS .375 OBP 1,566 BB 1,143 SO (14,053 At Bats)
as LHH: .307 BA 3,085 HITS 119 HR 938 RBI 1,600 RUNS .384 OBP 1,209 BB 845 SO (10,055 At Bats)
as RHH: .293 BA 1,171 HITS 41 HR 376 RBI 565 RUNS .351 OBP 357 BB 298 SO (3,998 At Bats)
No player has taken more At Bats, played in more Games, or recorded more Hits than Pete Rose, and he did it hitting from both sides of the plate. Among Switch Hitters, Rose holds the career record for Hits, Walks, Doubles, and Runs. I understand that Rose wasn’t a power hitter; Rose was built to be a contact hitter who got on base and ran the bases fearlessly. Rose Batted .300 or higher fifteen times, ten times Rose recorded 200 or more Hits and scored 100 or more Runs, and seven times, Rose led the league in Hits. I know he took over 6,000 more At Bats hitting left-handed than right-handed. However, he took more Walks than Strikeouts from both sides of the plate during his career. Rose played 24 seasons in the majors and was selected to 17 All-Star games, taking home 3 Batting Titles, 2 On Base Titles, and the MVP award in 1973. Also worthy of note is that Rose played 5,000 or more Innings at five different positions, in which his Fielding Percentage was average or above at all five positions.
#1 Mickey Mantle (1951-1968)
Lifetime Stats: .298 BA 2,415 HITS 536 HR 1,509 RBI 1,675 RUNS .421 OBP 1,733 BB 1,718 SO (8,101 At Bats)
as LHH: .281 BA 1,489 HITS 372 HR 1,011 RBI 1,110 RUNS .419 OBP 1,260 BB 1,264 SO (5,291 At Bats)
as RHH: .330 BA 913 HITS 163 HR 494 RBI 556 RUNS .424 OBP 461 BB 445 SO (2,768 At Bats)
It’s a toss-up, but I have to give it to Mickey Mantle as the greatest Switch Hitter ever played. For his entire career, Mantle played with a beat-up body, mainly in his knees, legs, and shoulders. Despite that, his 18-year career mostly in Center Field, Mantle was unstoppable when he was on the field. He leads all Switch Hitters in Home Runs (536) On Base Percentage .421, Walks with 1,733 and in MVPs with three (1956, 1957 & 1962). Career-wise, he has 20 Black and Bold Face Type on the back of his baseball card, between the Batting Average, Runs, Home Runs, Runs Batted In, Triples, Walks, and On Base Percentage statistical categories. After the 1957 World Series, when he injured his shoulder, it became harder for Mantle to hit from the left side of the plate for the rest of his career, and his numbers as a RHH were better because of it. If Mantle had some years in which injuries weren’t a factor, his lifetime Batting Average would’ve been well over .300, and he probably would’ve hit another 100 plus Home Runs and a few hundred more RBIs.
If Switch Hitting wasn’t such a hard thing to master, then we’d probably see many more players doing it than we do. Also, we’d have more Switch Hitters in the Hall of Fame. There are many players who mastered Switch Hitting who aren’t in the Hall of Fame, but in the case of these four guys they are the ones who did it at a Hall of Fame level. Besides Murray, Jones, and Mantle, there are only a few other Switch Hitters that are in the Hall of Fame based on their offensive numbers, such as Frankie Frisch, Roger Connor, Roberto Alomar, and George Davis. Like I said earlier, the hardest thing to do in sports is to make contact with a baseball at the Major League level, not only to do it, but if you are one of the few that can do it from both sides of the plate, more power to you.
References:
- Kelly, Omar The Science of Switch Hitting- A Deep Dive via Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/science-switch-hitting-deep-dive-owen-kelly-qeulc#:~:text=Switch%20hitters%20often%20sacrifice%20some,when%20facing%20same%2Dsided%20pitchers Published 15, October 2023
- Eddie Murray Career Splits via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=murraed02&year=Career&t=b
- Chipper Jones Career Splits via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=jonesch06&year=Career&t=b
- Pete Rose Career Splits via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=jonesch06&year=Career&t=b
- Mickey Mantle Career Splits via Baseball-Reference: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=mantlmi01&year=Career&t=b
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