THE GREATEST SWITCH-HITTERS

Having a well-balanced batting order means having the best combination of hitters from your club playing against certain pitchers. Left-handed pitchers require right-handed batters, and the r4everse is true for right-handed pitchers. One of the luxuries of having switch hitters is that the odds against a certain pitcher can be better. A guy that can jump from one end of the plate to the other is a big deal if you are the manager of the hitting club.

Here are some of the best switch-hitters I know of.

Maury Wills

 Maury Wills was a great leadoff hitter and stolen base maven, and one of the truly effective switch-hitters of all time, winning an MVP as well as putting up 586 stolen bases. He was probably the catalyst for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 60’s that took his team and could carry it on his shoulders.

Red Schoendienst

A St. Louis Cardinal mainstay, probably defined what switch-hitting was all about. the 10-time All-Star knew how to be an effective switch-hitter.

Schoendienst had almost 2,500 career hits and a .289 lifetime batting average. Hitting more home runs and triples left-handed, he was a .300 hitter from the right side and set the table for such greats as Stan Musial.

Ted Simmons

I mention Simmons because he was a .285career average hitter, not quite 2,500 hits and had several 100-RBI seasons in his career. But he was a rarity, in that he was a catcher, and equally dangerous from both sides of the plate.

Frankie Frisch

Long time second baseman for the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, he was a  .316 career hitter and MVP winner, leading the league in stolen bases, hits and runs scored at least once, while enjoying many seasons with 10-plus triples and 100-plus RBIs.

 

Tim Raines

The pesky Raines stole over 800 bases in his career. An All-Star with over 2,600 hits in his career, he could hit home runs from either side of the plate at about the same rate. Just a consistent ballplayer.

 

Roberto Alomar

All-Star and Gold Glove winner Alomar was a career .300 hitter mostly playing for the Toronto Blue Jays. He was a much more successful left-handed hitting batter with a .314 career average and finished his career with more walks than strikeouts from that side.

 

Pete Rose

Charlie Hustle spent 25 years in the game as a switch-hitter with over 3,000 hits batting from the left side to go along with over 1,000 batting right-handed. Breaking Ty Cobb’s record for hits for both the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies.

 

Mickey Mantle

The greatest of all, the ‘Mick’ was the greatest switch-hitter of all time, hands down. One of the greatest of all time, Mantle had 536 home runs, was a MVP a triple=crown winner and is rightfully a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Hit the only home run out of Detroit’s old Tiger Stadium.

 

That's all I wrote, folks!