Why are lefty pitchers normally slower than righty pitchers in baseball?

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Why are lefty pitchers normally slower than righty pitchers in baseball?

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5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Wasn’t randy Johnson a lefty? That dude was a speed baller.

But I take your point about “most” lefties.

Anonymous 0 Comments

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Probably because they don’t have to rely on their power as much. Lefties are a lot more rare and are in high demand so as long as they have a solid fastball, they can spend their time learning specialty pitches. Left handed pitches tend to have a natural curve to them because of the way the ball spins coming out of their hands and their position on the mound. They have great curve balls and sliders. Plus a majority of batters are right handed and used to seeing right handed pitchers. A big and tall lefty is a scary force on the mound so they don’t really have to blast them by you. Then you have guys like Randy Johnson who could throw 100 and he’s like 6’7” and left handed. Scared batters silly.

Anonymous 0 Comments

There’s less competition, is the short answer. You don’t need to throw 101 mph to get a roster spot as a left-handed pitcher. Plus, batters don’t see lefties as often, so you already have a bit of an advantage and you don’t need as much velocity.

That being said, some lefties do still have high velocity. Clayton Kershaw’s 4-seamer averages 94 mph and has touched 99.