Alex Presley's Reverse Platoon Split

Despite being a left-handed hitter, Alex Presley has struggled against right handed pitchers so far this season. However, his recent history of excelling against righties, when he was called up last year and at Triple-A, combined with a change of luck offers hope of continued and further success for the rest of the year from the left fielder.

Presley has had a strange season. He began the year with a hit-streak and then slumped to the point of being demoted. After a .450 wOBA in 18 Triple-A games Presley was recalled to the majors and has had a .359 wOBA since, helping the form one of the league’s best offenses throughout June. As stated, Presley’s splits this year point to further progression at the plate as he has been below average against right-handed pitchers:

	PA	BB%	K%	BABIP	wOBA	wRC+
v Right	176	4.0%	18.8%	.258	.276	71
v Left	45	6.7%	17.8%	.333	.332	109

Presley’s strikeout rate is similar when facing different handed pitchers, much like his isolated power (.143 v left-handers and .151 v righties), though a reduced batting average on balls in play and lower walk percentage have dragged down his wOBA, leading to a reverse platoon split. Both 176 and 45 plate appearances represents a small sample size, though his performance last year in the majors point toward more traditional splits for a left-handed hitter:

	PA	BB%	K%	BABIP	wOBA	wRC+
v Right	161	6.2%	13.7%	.368	.384	145
v Left	70	4.3%	25.7%	.298	.262	61

Presley’s 2011 batting average on balls in play against right handed pitching was .110 points higher last year, though he also struck out less and walked more. While a .368 BABIP is fairly high, it is not unreasonable to expect a fairly high BABIP for a player with his speed. He also showed more power (.193 ISO v righties and .108 v southpaws). These traditional splits are also mirrored in his 2011-2012 minor league performance:

	PA	BA	OBP	SLG
v Right	337	.322	.384	.524
v Left	142	.252	.289	.374

Based on his history, it’s reasonable to expect improvement from Presley against right handed pitchers, though it’s also reasonable to expect his performance against left-handed pitchers to regress over the rest of the season. Whereas it may be too early to look at platooning Presley with a right handed hitter as he has shown some ability against lefties, I’d expect Drew Sutton or Josh Harrison to continue to see playing time against tougher southpaws – even if Presley does continue his success at the plate.

What would be wise, however, is to move Presley down the line-up. He may have had a .359 wOBA over the last month, but this has been fueled by increased and largely unsustainable power (.233 ISO) while he has continued to get on base at a below average rate (.313 OBP). Though Neil Walker’s power has disappeared this season (.096 ISO), he’s still second on the team with a .338 OBP, so he would be a leading candidate to be moved to the top of the order. Presley and Jose Tabata have largely remained at the top of the line-up due to their speed, however speed is useless if the player fails to reach base in the first place – hence why the speed at the top of the line-up philosophy is fairly outdated. Whereas Presley should get on base more when his performance against right-handed pitchers begins to improve, as a contact hitter he would be better suited to hit lower down the order.