Do The Atlanta Braves Have Too Many Left-Handed Hitters?

One of the debates that arises when rumors of the Braves getting a bat start churning is: Would another left-handed bat hurt the Braves?

As of right now, the Braves have four everyday lefties.

Nate McLouth, Brian McCann, Garret Anderson, and Casey Kotchman are the regulars and Ryan Church is one-half of a platoon in right (though he only plays against right-handed pitching, so that is a moot point).

Adding another one (to replace the platoon) would make lefties fill over half of the line-up card--thus breaking some unwritten baseball rule.

Against right-handed pitching this (logically) would be great.

Against left-handed pitching, however, this (once again, logically) would debilitate the Braves'offense.

With this in mind, let's look at the 2009 lefty-righty splits for the Braves' lefties.

Name                    .avg V. R/.avg V. L        .slg v. R/.slg v. L

Nate McLouth               .261/.250                    .468/.446

Brian McCann               .341/.229                    .605/.289

Garret Anderson          .294/.369                    .404/.460

Casey Kotchman          .290/.268                    .432/.341

Now, outside of McCann (and he's .274 against lefties for his career), the disparities are not THAT great.

It's obvious that all of these guys (outside of Anderson, what a freak) like facing righties more.

Still, plugging in a left-handed bat (provided that it's big enough) would NOT hurt the Braves' offense THAT much.

Besides, it becomes a bigger issue when you have too many right-handed hitters (since RHP makes up about two-thirds if the pitching in baseball).

It wouldn't be so bad to have a line-up of:

L McLouth
R Prado
S Jones
L Big Bat McGee
L Brian McCann
R Yunel Escobar
L Garret Anderson
L Casey Kotchman

It is my best guess that something WILL happen in the coming weeks.

I no longer feel that a right-handed bat is a must, but a power bat is becoming one.

Whether it's someone like Matt Holliday (please no) or Mark Teahen, the Braves appear set (or are going to be forced) to make a move.

Interesting fact from the realms of stupidity: The records for most doubles in a season (since 1994) in both leagues are held by lefties.  Carlos Delgado (57--with TOR) and Todd Helton (59--with COL) both set the mark in 2000. (from Great Baseball Feats, Firsts, and Facts by David Nemec and Scott Flatow)