That other thing Skip Schumaker has been working on
JUPITER, Fla. — Take a moment to do some math. Pull out a calculator and consider if St. Louis Cardinals leadoff hitter Skip Schumaker had just 11 more hits against lefthanded pitching last season. Just 11. Say, maybe four bloop singles to left field, four grounders that found holes, and three well-struck liners, maybe even a couple for doubles.
With those 11 hits — just 11 — Schumaker would have finished the season with a modest .261 average against lefties. But his batting average overall would have soared to .322.
Only two hitters in the National League would have had higher, including Albert Pujols.
While all of the attention has been on Schumaker’s transition to second base this spring, lost in the play-by-play of his relocation is the other thing Schumaker has been working on: Hitting better against lefties. Last season, the Cardinals’ leadoff hitter batted .302 overall, but his splits were radically different. He hit .340 against righthanded pitching, and he hit only .168 against lefties. The motivation for Schumaker’s move to second base is to keep his bat in the lineup. The implication is that Schumaker, at second, would/could be the everyday leadoff hitter, and a proven .300 hitter in the role. That, however, would appear to be contingent on reducing batting splits that scream platoon.
As good as he has gotten this spring at answering questions about second base, his answer is even better when asked about those splits.
“I don’t think I’m a .350 hitter against righties,” he said, “and I’m not a .180 hitter against lefties.”
The breakdown of Schumaker’s splits show how pronounced the difference really was:
SPLIT … AB … HITS … BB … Ks … BA/OBP/SLG
Total … 540 … 163 … 47 … 60 … .302/.359/.406
vRHP … 421 … 143 … 36 … 38 … .340/.393/.468
vLHP … 119 … 20 … 11 … 22 … .168/.238/.185
To work on hitting better against lefthanded pitchers, Schumaker hit the cages this winter with help from his high-school coach. His coach is a lefty, and together they worked on how Schumaker can better see the ball coming out of a lefty’s hand. It didn’t mean a drastic change or even a minor-tinkering of his swing, but repeated practice on picking up and adjusting to pitches from the left side. A majority of Schumaker’s swings in the offseason were against a lefthanded pitcher.
“I’m seeing the ball better,” he said, “because I’m seeing (the lefty pitchers) more.”
Outfielder Chris Duncan, who hit .147 in limited exposure to lefthanded pitching last season, overheard Schumaker explaining this in the clubhouse Monday and came over to offer his opinion.
“Look, you really don’t face too many lefthanded starters, because you may not be in that lineup,” Duncan said. “That means, you’re often facing guys like Trever Miller, guys who get paid to get us out.”
True, some of the time. But he and Schumaker continued talking and explained it’s also the look of the lefty. Not seeing lefthanded pitching all that much makes tracking the pitch difficult — especially from sidearmers.
“The guys who look like they’re throwing from out of our dugout,” Duncan said. “Not easy.”
Schumaker has not had many plate appearances this spring against lefthanded pitchers. If possible, manager Tony La Russa plans to change that, opponents permitting, in the final weeks here of games. Schumaker, Duncan and fellow lefthanded hitter Rick Ankiel were all in the lineup Monday against Washington lefty Scott Olsen. Ankiel bunted for a single in his first at-bat — “That’s something he’s been working on doing,” La Russa said — and Ankiel singled on a sharp grounder in his second at-bat. Duncan popped up and got an infield hit. Schumaker … well, Schumaker had a day he described in decidedly inappropriate-for-blog terms. He was, well, not pleased.
Schumaker, batting ninth, popped out to left field in his two at-bats against Olsen. Schumaker had been taking better swings against lefties in his rare at-bats before Monday, but he agreed that Monday felt a lot like he did last year. The results were the same, too. He tried to strike the ball the opposite way and ended up elevating it enough to be a fly out.
That’s not the way to get those 11 more hits.
When Schumaker was asked about what those 11 more hits would have meant to his .300 average, Duncan quickly interjected: “It would mean he’d be taking me out to dinner. That’s what.”
Schumaker is a little more reserved. He has a number in mind for what he’d like to hit vs. lefties.
Sort of.
“Yeah,” he said, “it’s over .180.”
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Derrick Goold said he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was really drawn to MU sitting between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball in between. 
I hope Schumaker listens to others besides Chris Duncan when it comes to hitting lefthanders.
So, all you got out of that whole blog post was, “Chris Duncan is terrible, don’t listen to him, Skip?” Given TLR’s penchant for shuffling lineups, esp. against southpaw starters, who knows how Skip’s numbers against lefties will look. However, who would lead off instead of him? Conceivably, another lefty (Rasmus?), right? Is Thurston a righty? (Will he make the team?)
OK, I’ll likely get pounded on this one but….here goes. Skip’ll cost you a few games at 2nd but he’s athletic enough to play the position and determined enough to work hard at it. With Oquendo he’ll get to know HOW to do it the right way all the time. We were outfielder heavy in the first place and Chris isn’t a natural outfielder but he’s WORKING at it behind the league MVP at his natural position of first base. Where were all you Duncan bashers when he was tearing it up for August and September a few years ago??? The kids carrying enough of a load with his Dad being the pitching coach and in MY opinion he carries it well. He TRIES no matter what and he’s got a sweet stroke at the plate. (admittedly doing better against righties but isn’t that the whole point here, both he and Skip are WORKING on getting better!!!)
Both can either set the platter or drive in the RBI’s, capable of carrying the team for a few weeks or one hot month thru the season. Show some patience with the young guys TLR’s got to play and ENJOY this season before you critisize them!
Well said Semperfi#1.
Henry, Thurston’s a lefty.
I know exactly what they mean by not facing many lefties. I played in high school, college and for a few years after college. I swing right handed but I always hit right handed pitchers much better. I saw many many more right handed pitchers than left handed. When you don’t see many left handers it is tough. I believe half of the “he can’t hit lefties” is self fulfilling because they can’t improve if they never hit against a left hander.
I am not worried at all in regards to Skip because he has the desire and determination to make himself better along with proving everybody wrong. A few years ago, everybody was saying that he wasnt an everyday player. What does he do? Secures a starting OF position and hits over .300 and that shut everybody up. Again, he will be fine playing defense at 2B as well as hitting lefties. I dont think that he will hit .300 against them, but he will definitely hit over .180 vs. lefties. This is just another thing that everybody will start criticizing Skip about, then he will shut them up…AGAIN.
Thanks BFiB. It seems like DG’s saying Skip wasn’t THAT terrible vs lefties anyway, and besides, who else do we have to leadoff other than lefty batters? If so, the BA’s against lefty starters may be a moot point. And I agree with the general consensus of the comments as well as with Lil Dunc’s assessment of lefty-vs-lefty situations.
It wasn’t just Skip’s batting average last year v. lefties that was HORRIFIC.
Look at his isolated slugging. In more than 130 plate appearances, the man had a total of TWO DOUBLES. Zero triples & homers, of course.
Q: Is there such a thing in the world as a platoon player? Yes, obviously. So how do we identify said player?
A: he does exactly what Skip did last year–hit very well against one type of pitcher, and very very poorly against the other type, over an ample sample size.
Second base is more physically taxing than outfield…so rest Skip occasionally in 2009. Like, every single time the opposing starter is a southpaw.
“Just 11 more hits”?!? In 119 AB’s?!? You’re kiddin’, right?
I enjoyed your comment -C. Well said! Now I’ll add my two cents worth as I make comment on Skips desire and determination. It does not matter what one does in life, if he/she believes in themselves no matter what the obsticles placed in front of them, that belief will be the motivating fuel to fire up success and burn up the doubters. Thats my first cent. With that said, Skip Schumaker’s fire seems to have an endless fuel supply and it seems the more obsticles that are placed in front of him the more his fire gets stoked. I would not bet against a guy like that! Ok, my two cents are spent.