Where's the Southpaw Behind the Plate?

Greensboro, NC – I’ve been plowing through a stack of baseball books for my summer reading list. I just completed Diamond Dollars, which could be an extremely boring book if you don’t like baseball and economics. I’m currently reading The Baseball Economist by J.C. Bradbury, which is modeled after the popular Freakonomics, the lone difference being that Bradbury uses baseball examples instead of everyday life examples. One of his chapters focused on the “extinction of the left handed catcher.” What precludes someone who is left handed from being a catcher? The only positions that southpaws cannot or should not play are third base, shortstop and second base because a ground ball is thrown to first base from left to right. If the catcher had to make a throw on a force play or attempted steal (with the exception of 3rd base), all throws would be in a straight line -- i.e. no pivoting would be required.

We’ve heard some of the silly reasons commentators discussing the reasons why left-handers cannot be catchers:
-- A quickly thrown ball will fade in the direction of the catcher’s throwing arm. For a right-hander, the ball will tail toward the runner stealing a base, and for a lefty, it will tail away.*
-- The “framing” of pitches – so that the umpire is more likely to call borderline pitches strikes – is harder for lefties.*
-- The limited availability of left-handed catcher’s mitts prevents left-handed players from learning the position as they grow up.*

Throwing out the hogwash of the first bullet point above, Bradbury calculated the steals rate of runners attempting to swipe third base (where a pivot would be required). Using “frequency,” “state run expectancy,” “raw gain” and “weighted gain,” Bradbury has proved that, on average, stealing third nets the team about 0.4 runs per game.** It’s about 64 extra runs a year. And that’s only if the steal attempt is successful. It’s a small difference, but a difference none the less. So, with a better chance of stealing third, you’re telling me that’s the only bias against a left-handed catcher? There are numerous reasons to include a left-handed catcher in your lineup: a left-handed bat, a good arm can throw out base runners, a more obtuse angle to throw out wide leaders on first, etc.

Here’s why I believe there are no left-handed catchers in the majors. I’ll use Sean Attridge as an example since he’s left-handed. Before Sean “retired” from Little League to “put more time” into his basketball career, he pitched for his team, but he wanted to be a catcher. Sean bought all of the vital catcher’s gear and a left-handed catcher’s glove. In the major leagues, what type of player is the most coveted on any team? Answer: A left-handed pitcher! A Little League coach thinking along those same lines is not going to put his best arm behind the plate. He’s going to start the southpaw because they’re rare not only in the Little Leagues, but in the Major Leagues as well. Sometimes, as difficult as it may be, you have to look past the raw data and statistics, and visualize the circumstances on the diamond.

* Bradbury, The Baseball Economist, p. 31
** Ibid, p. 34