More On Sexson

The Richie Sexson experiment was in full effect tonight, as Sexson delivered with a 1-for-3 performance, driving in 1 run, taking a walk and striking out once. He was in at 1B against the lefty, Greg Smith, allowing Mike Mussina to stick with old faithful, Jose Molina, which pushed Jorge to 1B (leaving Giambi on the bench). Now, I believe Giambi was out because Moose wanted Molina to catch him and with Sexson in there at 1B, Posada was given the start at DH (resting his shoulder again). However, Giambi should not be shutdown when facing lefties because he has been able to contribute against them in 2008 (.903 OPS). Hopefully, this was just a contextually relevant move that provided comfort for Mike Mussina. Sexson at 1B, Giambi at DH, and Posada behind the dish would be optimal against lefty starters.

Now, one of the reasons Sexson was signed (well, when you think about it, it’s the only reason, really) is because of his “righty pop”. Sexson has pounded lefties this year, hitting .344 with a 1.045 OPS against them. He’s faced some solid lefties too, including Cliff Lee, Randy Wolf, Johan Santana, Joe Saunders, so the numbers aren’t just padded against weak pitchers. Nonetheless, I am a bit worried about the press he’s receiving as fans are commenting that Sexson typically “mashes” against lefties and that he’s a “lefty killer”. While I agree that for this year, that is the case. However, what about in previous years? How has he performed in those years, as those years can provide us with a better story about Sexson’s production against lefties (instead of using just this one year) so we’ll know what to expect by season’s end.

Sexson, in his career, hits lefties at a .265/.369/.510 clip. That’s very solid. But, how has he done recently? Well, in 2005 (in 2004, Sexson didn’t play much with Arizona due to injuries), Sexson hit .333 with a 1.116 OPS against lefties. That’s the Richie we were looking for. Now, in 2006, Sexson hit .204 with a .763 OPS against lefties. In fact, he was much better against righties that year (.282 BA/.866 OPS). Not so great, huh? Then came the dreadful 2007, where Richie hit .195 with a .675 OPS against righties. But, his production against lefties, while better, was equally disasterous. He hit .238 with a .752 OPS. In 2008, when you compare the .344 BA and the 1.045 OPS against those numbers, it’s quite a head scratcher. Basically, Sexson is hitting more like he did in 2005, but his production against righties is similar to 2007 (it’s actually worse).

The only reason I bring up these numbers is because it provides us with some grounded thinking for our Sexson expectations. While Richie has shown that he can hit lefties at a monsterous clip in the past, he hasn’t done so since 2005 (even his 2004 numbers against lefties were terrible, albeit in a shortened season). In fact, since 2005, Sexson hasn’t hit well against lefties at all (until this year), as he’s done a better job against righties in 2006 and his 2007 numbers were just flat out terrible against both sets of pitchers. Here’s to hoping that his lefty numbers, this year, will stick and that he’ll be a productive member of the 2008 Yankees. I wouldn’t expect him to hit the cover off the ball against lefties (his splits may come down to earth a bit), so we’ll temper for now. Who knows, the change in scenery, as I said before, may do him some good.

If he totally bombs as a right-vs-lefty hitter, then we can always stick with the pinch hit idea. Then again, the career .192 BA and .579 OPS in that role may scare some people off…