A good article about Benny Distefano
by Ketcham Bruce on Aug 16, 2009 10:09 AM EDT
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PrintOur good friend, Dejan, at the Post-Gazette linked this artice in the New York Times about former Bucco Benny Distefano. The article goes into detail how Distefano was the last man to play the catcher position left handed. I remember this game in 1989 because my father and I were watching it. I believe he came in as a replacement for Junior Ortiz I remember my father, a former catcher himself, was very shocked to see the southpaw Distefano set up behind the plate. When I asked why, he said that left handed catchers had trouble fielding bunts and left it at that.
I met Distefano later that year at WMGW in Meadville, PA. He was there for a promotion signing autographs, well, autograph, I was the only one there. A genuinely good guy who couldn't cut it in the majors despite breaking up David Cone's no hitter in 1989 and nearly being decapitated by Darryl Strawberry while playing first base.
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Shortstop
What blew me away in the article was that no lefty has played a MLB inning at SS in 100 years. First of all, I can’t believe I never noticed. Second of all, while I get why the angles don’t work for a 2B, I’m much less convinced that it would be prohibitive for an SS (who is already facing 1B on a DP turn).
It’s really strange to think that every slick-gloved, light-hitting lefty in the last 100 years hasn’t had a path to the bigs.
To extend
It’s not that I think that a righty SS doesn’t have an inherent advantage; it’s that I don’t believe that it’s so big that the best-fielding 5’-11", 185 lb. lefty in America wouldn’t be a better SS than, say, Brian Bixler.
After all, righties have an inherent disadvantage at 1B that’s arguably greater, but you see them there all the time (I know 1B’s an easier position, but still, a righty stretching for a throw is in terrible position).
OK, so I was checking to confirm that I’m right about right-handed 1Bs (I am), and I discovered that KC has a guy named Billy Butler who seems to be pretty good – career OPS of .780, .835 this, his second, year. I don’t follow the AL much, and of course this year has been a disaster for the Royals, but it’s odd to me that I’ve never heard of their starting 1B. Not that he’s a stud, but he appears to be better than Pearce or Jones.
Yeah, Butler can rake.
14th overall pick, three-time minor league All-Star, Futures Game MVP.
Kid’s a born DH, but the bat’s for real.
Huh
Although, top prospect or no, I’m less shocked that I hadn’t heard of a 14th round pick.
Also, “born DH” rings a bell – possible I heard something in that context. Young guys who can hit but can’t even field 1B are less rare and awe-inspiring (coughClementcough).
“it’s odd to me that I’ve never heard of their starting 1B”
It’s odd to me, too. Who hasn’t heard of Billy Butler? This is his 3rd year in the league, he’s not exactly a prospect anymore…
Part of it is selection bias.
If you’re a lefty, and you have enough arm to play short, you’re probably going to end up as a pitcher.
well, purely from informal leagues
playing on the SS-3B side of the infield is not at all fun for a lefty, because you have turn your body right around to throw to 1B. It costs valuable time, and is esp glaring when the ball isnt sharply hit. Esp think of the balls in the hole between 3B and SS, where a RH SS can field and throw in one motion, and even then a perfect throw will likely only just get the runner. A lefty would field it easier because the glove would be on the right side, but he would then have to bring his glove across, and turn his right shoulder toward 1B to throw or throw relying only on the arm for direction (which is a good recipe for throwing the ball away, it seems)
But wouldn’t a 3B have a better throwing angle when he goes into the hole? Although I guess the bunt down the line would be a killer.
Still, I just have trouble believing that there’s not a left-handed man in the US, Latin America, or Far East that wouldn’t be a better overall player than Ronny Cedeno, much less Bixler.
The next Billie Beane will have lefty C, 3B, and SS.
The overall reason is a combination of all these factors. I don’t seem to understand what the confusion is. It is EXTREMELY more difficult and time consuming for a left handed infielder (excluding 1B obviously) to field and throw a ball to first, especially when coming in on a ball. For a SS 2B or 3B to come in on a grounder, he must collect, stop his momentum and turn nearly 90 degrees to be in a position to make a throw. Not to mention the obvious alignment of a baseball diamond creates the situation in which a throw to first is infinitely easier for a right hander. Not to mention lefties’ deliveries often produce a slight natural movement in the path of the ball. And most importantly, all of these reasons combined have been noticed for the past 100 years, and therefore, left handers have been inherently relegated to 1B, OF and pitching from a very young age by coaches and instructors. The fact that left handed dominant people are so minimal also plays a rule, as there are not as many of them competing for positions.
When I was a kid in the 70's,
I lived in San Jose, CA. The SJ Bees were the farm team for the Angels, and then the Royals. I got to watch a lot of players come up through there, as we went to a lot of games. And I became a Royals fan by extension (second favorite AFTER the Pirates), watching guys like Wathan, Busby, Bird, Splittorff, U.L. Washington etc. play.
I recall that the Fresno Giants had a left-handed catcher around the time that Gary Maddux & Gary Matthews (SR.!) were coming up through the system. Haven’t seen one since.
I played catcher for 7 years in Little League (also Seniors + what is commonly referred to as Pony/Colt), and I never saw a lefty catcher. Since the majority of batters are right-handed, it put the C at a disadvantage in throwing to 2B & 3B – the batter is in the way.
Free your ass and your mind will follow.
Benny Distefano,
Doug Frobel, Sammy Khalifa, Denny Gonzalez…. such highly-touted prospects coming out of the Bucco farm system in the mid-’80s. Those were the days.
Khalifa's actually had a very strange post-baseball life.
His father, Rashad Khalifa, was assassinated by militants connected to Jamaat ul-Fuqra and Al Qaeda in 1990.
Do Elaborate
I met his sister once in the ’80’s. At the Pirate Fest. She was pretty hot. Don Robinson was a jerk
Do they still give out the Sammy Khalifa award for terrible defense in the PBC locker room ? I remember Jay Bell, who never played on the same team as Khalifa, saying he got the award after a bone-headed play.
"Baseball is better than football. Think about it, eighty degrees, a cold beer and a short-sleeve shirt is better than 30 degrees, a hip flask and six layers of clothes under a lap blanket. Take your pick: suntan or frostbite. " - Thomas Boswell
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