He's better against lefties at basically .900, but no way do you platoon that dude against same-handed pitching unless you really think he's lost it. He wouldn't let you anyway - he's playing with incentives in his contract and for a longer-term deal next year. No way is that guy getting 250 PAs unless his leg falls off.
So it's not technically gonna be a platoon with Hart - I don't care where Hart is playing, he'll be playing a lot unless he falls off a cliff, and then another cliff below that cliff. What we need is a hitter who only hits lefties to make a platoon work.
This is where you want Montero around.
Career splits, bigs: .830 vs lefties, .630 vs righties
Minors splits since 2011: 1.060 vs lefties, .700 vs righties
He could even catch a little when needed. He can't do ANYthing else, but could we find a slot for him that way? I don't like his D at first, or the way he runs the bases, or his getting popped for steroids, but I would take a lil RH thunder to ADD to Hart and Romero and Zunino in the lineup.
Don't see it, though. Buck is here to help Zunino with the youngsters just learning the ropes on the mound. You don't take Paxton, Walker, Elias, E-Ram, Farquhar, etc, and entrust them to Montero in any way. Like giving the keys to the Porsche to your teenage son on prom night. With a case of Johnny Walker Black in the trunk.
Romero has been worthless the first few weeks - do you keep giving him all the at-bats? He's worse than Smoak against lefties, somehow.
*shrugs* Might just need to play a lefty who can also hit lefties. LoMo has been atrocious this year at everything, but his lefty splits aren't abominable - he can survive lefties, he just can't punish them (slugging goes down the drain, a la Franklin as a righty). Saunders doesn't punish anyone, righties or lefties, which is the weirdest thing. His splits are good, but his totals are relatively terrible for a guy with that much talent. We don't have a lot of lefties who hit lefties really well.
Well, there is Choi (who basically has no split when you even out the BABIP noise)... ;-)
~G
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