What’s up with MLB’s left-handed pitching surge? Plus: Yankees-Mets paralellism

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It’s the year of the southpaw. Why are left-handed pitchers so dominant this year?

Plus: Ken on Sonny Gray’s no-trade clause, we tell you about two Guardians pitchers with compelling back stories, and … are the Yankees and Mets in a codependent relationship? I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!

Trends: Year of the southpaw

I love when someone makes me think about something I’ve never thought to think about. Why does the needle make the vinyl play my favorite song, anyway? Why is it OK to salvage moldy hard cheese, but not soft cheese? Why do we put adjectives in that order?

Today, Stephen Nesbitt has done this, but for a baseball truth: Why are left-handed pitchers harder to hit?

The standard answer to this question has been: You don’t see as many of them, so when you do, it messes up your usual line of sight. Maybe so, but as Nesbitt points out (with numerous graphs and charts), lefties are getting more dominant.

Left-handed people make up 10 percent of the world’s population. This year, lefties have started 26.2 percent of big-league games. And of the top 10 pitchers in bWAR, they make up a full 60 percent.

Some of that, yes, is a lack of exposure. But part of it is that left-handed pitchers are doing the same things that right-handed pitchers are doing: going to Driveline, Tread and other facilities, learning how to better shape their pitches and adding a broader variety to their repertoire.

If the soft-tossing lefty of yesteryear was tricky, how much more so now that they’re throwing 99 with a filthy sinker?

It’s a good read, well-researched and thought-provoking.

Oh, and by the way, if you were curious … here’s what I found to explain vinyl, cheese mold and adjectives.

Ken’s Notebook: Could Cards deal Gray?

To this point, St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Sonny Gray has been unwilling to waive his no-trade clause. But this offseason, his stance might change.

Gray turns 36 in November and still feels he can be productive. He said he wants one more crack at winning, one more chance to pitch in the postseason. His last three starts were high-profile — at Dodger Stadium, on “Sunday Night Baseball” against the Chicago Cubs and on Fox’s “Baseball Night in America” against the New York Yankees.
After two poor starts coming out of the All-Star break — Gray said he fell out of baseball rhythm while spending a few days at home — the bigger spotlight helped him get back on track.

“I do want those moments more,” Gray said. “It’s just more fun for me.”

Those moments likely will be rare in St. Louis next season, when Gray will be in the last guaranteed year of his contract. Chaim Bloom, taking over as president of baseball operations in place of John Mozeliak, will continue the Cardinals’ retooling. The team’s average attendance of 28,828 this year would be its lowest for a non-strike, non-COVID season since 1984, making it highly unlikely to spend big.

Gray would not specifically answer a question last weekend about whether he would waive his no-trade protection. If he is willing, the Cardinals almost certainly would need to include cash in the deal. Gray is owed $35 million next season, and another $5 million on a buyout for 2027.

“I do know that I do have a lot left in the tank. I feel I showed that last year, and I’ve shown it this year,” said Gray, who had a 3.84 ERA last season and is at 4.30 this season. “This year, there has been a lot of good, a lot of really good. But there have been a few more, probably four to five games, that have just been really bad.”

If Gray allows the Cardinals to shop him, his no-trade protection would give him the ability to effectively choose his next club. One team to watch: the Atlanta Braves, who play even closer to Gray’s Nashville home than the Cardinals.

New York, New York: We need to separate the Yankees and Mets

Seriously, stop copying each other already.

Both teams jumped out to early division leads this year, with hot starts from home-grown right-handed sluggers (Aaron Judge, Pete Alonso). Both failed to land an impactful starting pitcher at the trade deadline, and both have endured miserable second-half slumps that saw them passed up in the standings, holding tight to a wild-card spot.

Here’s the latest from this week in siblings-copying-each-other.

• Judge likely won’t be able to throw normally for the rest of the season, thanks to a flexor strain. (Judge, for what it’s worth, disputes this). Meanwhile, Francisco Alvarez sprained his thumb sliding into second base Monday night. He hit the IL and will ultimately require surgery to fully heal. But according to Tim Britton’s story, the plan is to at least try to play through the injury for the rest of the year.
• Both teams showed out against division rivals last night, with the Mets putting together a complete performance while hitting four home runs to wallop the Nationals (8-1) and the Yankees tying a franchise record they set earlier this year, hitting nine home runs to pummel the Rays 13-3.

More Yankees: Keith Law and Brendan Kuty report today on Core Jackson, the Yankees’ fifth-round pick in this year’s draft. While a freshman at Nebraska, Jackson drew a swastika on a Jewish classmate’s door. Four years later, the Yankees drafted him. Why?

It’s a delicate story, one that doesn’t equivocate or make excuses, but also tells the full story of Jackson’s journey since. Rea past the headline.

On the Rise: Two Guardians relievers breaking out

In our most recent edition of the power rankings, we picked one “Rated Rookie” for each team. Some of mine were easy, but the most difficult one for me was the Guardians. Joey Cantillo was worth the most fWAR and had been so successful as a reliever that he has transitioned to the rotation. He has pitched a lot more innings than the guy I picked.

But I couldn’t overlook Erik Sabrowski (a left-handed pitcher, of course). At the time, Sabrowski’s ERA was 1.02 in 17 1/3 innings pitched (it’s down to 1.00 after last night).

I sent a message to Zack Meisel, our Guardians beat writer, to ask if I was being stupid. He said it was fine, and informed me he was actually writing a story about Sabrowski and fellow reliever Nic Enright, so … good timing. Well, it’s here.

Both relievers have overcome immense odds to be in a big-league bullpen at all. Sabrowski has undergone two Tommy John surgeries, a concussion and (of all things) a golf ball to the ankle on his path to the big leagues. Enright overcame a cancer diagnosis.

The two are part of a bullpen that has been a major factor in the Guardians’ resurrection from midseason irrelevance to the thick of the AL wild-card race. 

And they’ve done it with closer Emmanuel Clase on administrative leave while the league conducts a gambling investigation. Since Clase’s last game (July 26), Cleveland’s bullpen ERA (2.87) was third-best in baseball going into last night’s game.

More Enright: In May, when Enright was on the verge of making the big leagues, Meisel profiled the pitcher’s return from cancer.

More pitchers overcoming adversity: Fabian Ardaya has the incredible story of Dodgers prospect Patrick Copen, who lost vision in his right eye but is still pitching at a high level.

Handshakes and High Fives

The Cubs managed to stop the bleeding yesterday, sweeping a doubleheader against the Brewers. Meanwhile, as the Kyle Tucker reset continues, here’s what we know.

I loved this: Tyler Kepner spent a game in the GM suite with Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto, talking about everything from this year’s Mariners to a crank(y) phone call from Tug McGraw.

Tarik Skubal vs. Hunter Brown did not disappoint last night. The two matched zeroes as Detroit beat Houston 1-0 in extras. Cody Stavenhagen starts with that matchup, and makes a case.

Relax: Mookie Betts isn’t moving (back) to right field.

An update on Victor Robles, who threw a bat at the pitcher on a rehab assignment Sunday night: He has been suspended for 10 games. The suspension will be served in the big leagues.

By playing his 746th consecutive game last night, Matt Olson passed Pete Rose for the fourth-longest games-played streak of the divisional era.

On the pods: Blue Jays manager John Schneider joined “Starkville” this week to talk about — among other things — Alenjadro Kirk’s recent stolen base and Max Scherzer’s job as “assistant manager.” And on “Rates & Barrels,” Tim Britton joins the pod to discuss the Mets.

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(Photo: Lon Horwedel / Imagn Images)

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