Quote:
Originally Posted by daves
1/2 of the games are on the road. A switch hitter can hit righties well and will still have a matchup advantage against lefties despite the ball park factors.
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I don't think I explained it properly. Let me try again. Let's take 2 players of equal ratings and put them both in a lefty home park.
Player A: reverse/minimal split lefty (think Carew, Gwynn, Erstad, etc.)
Player B: switch hitter.
Let's focus just on the vL lineup here in isolation to simplify things. At home vL, player A gets +10% boost, while player B gets a -10% penalty. So that's a 20% swing between the two players at home from park factors.
Your point that player B at least gets the platoon advantage is absolutely correct. And it would help make up
some of the ground lost to that 20% swing. But the thing is, switch hitters tend to have even splits. That's the whole point of switch hitters, to perform well against both sides. So I'd be willing to bet that is maybe a 5% boost tops, and that's probably generous. So let's say with that in mind, that at home, our 20% advantage is down to 15%.
So if there is a 15% disadvantage at home, the switch hitter would need to be +15% on the road just to be equal with the lefty.
Now, if your entire league was full of RIGHTY-favored parks, (i.e. the opposite of OP) then in that case, it would make sense to load up on switch hitters. If that was the case then player B would enjoy a +25% advantage over player A on the road (+20% for park factors +5% for platoon) which is higher than 15% home penalty, so it's a good plan. But if your away parks are neutral, which over time they absolutely are, that 20% modifier disappears, there's simply no 20 point swing anywhere. Player B would have the platoon advantage of +5 on the road, but they are still -15 at home. Bad plan.
Basically what it comes down to is park factors are just more powerful than platoon advantages.
Now I will concede this is oversimplified, and it's not 100% fair to limit this just to the vL lineup. That is only a part of the overall picture, and you need to consider vR lineups as well. But TBH I don't want switch hitters in my vR lineup either. What if the RHSP gets relieved by a LHRP? Hello again, 20% penalty at home. In the crucial late game situation. I don't want any part of that.
This strategy works. My vL lineup has been unique in BFF in that I was the only one to use all lefties with reverse splits instead of righties or switch hitters. My team has generally been the most cost effective in terms of WINS per PP spent, of all the teams in BFF.
If you want to stretch your PP via park factors, my advice would be to lean INTO the park factors as hard as possible. Don't hedge your bet, just go all-in.