And even though the top of the current leaderboard is righty heavy, there’s been no appreciable change in the overall rate of right-handed home run hitting: The overall HR/AB and slugging numbers for righties in 2014 are only a modicum better than the 2013 figures, and they are still worse than 20.Īnecdotally, many of the best young pitchers in the game - Jose. Only 11 righties posted a slugging percentage above.500 last year, also the fewest in any season since 1992. Only eight right-handed hitters reached 30 home runs in 2013, and only 36 hit 20 homers, both the fewest in a non-strike-shortened season since 1992.
Although eight of the top 10 home run hitters in 2014 are right-handed, such success comes on the heels of some very fallow years, and it belies the larger trend. Scouts, coaches, and executives - the experts charged with preserving this type of slugger - have seen some regrowth this season on the home run leaderboard, but there’s reason to fear that such gains may be temporal.
Power hitters who reside there permanently have become an endangered species because of a confluence of changes to their environment.
For years, the right-handed batter’s box has quietly been a habitat under attack.
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