I have really been hoping the Cubs could round out their bench with a left-handed outfielder who can play centerfield. Well, the Cubs found signed a player to a minor league deal (with a Spring Training Invite) who would seem to fit the bill – Chas McCormick. Unfortunately, while he is left handed, he doesn’t hit that way.
McCormick is one of the rare position players in baseball who throws left-handed but bats right-handed. Historically, there have been more pitchers like this – and when they used to hit, I’d hear the excuse that they did not want to expose their pitching arm at the plate. But historically, there have not been many others similar position players, and I’ve had a bit of trouble finding all the current players (I ended up using my copy of Out of the Park Baseball, as it had the best interactive filter).
Here are the other active players I could find:
- Jake Meyers – Astros
- Bryce Teodosio – Angels
That’s it…that’s the list. There are a few college players, and some players that are no longer in the majors (Evan White and Ryan LaMarre). But I could not find anyone else.
The reasons are pretty obvious — being a left-handed thrower is a disadvantage for non-pitchers in baseball because it limits the number of positions you can play. Second base, shortstop and third base are out, and there are very few left handed catchers, with none currently in the majors. So, designated hitter, first base and outfield are the only positions available. And the value of being able to hit left-handed would seems to make it the one advantage that left-hand throwers would have. At the very least, you would expect a left-hand thrower to switch hit, as opposed to only hitting from the right side.
Historically, there are not many great right-hand hitting, left-hand throwing position players, with Ricky Henderson being the best by a very wide margin. I did some historical digging, and here was the top 10 by WAR of these players I could dig up (although this list might not be 100% accurate).
| First Name | Last Name | Position | Retired | WAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rickey | Henderson | OF | 2003 | 111.2 |
| Jimmy | Ryan | OF | 1903 | 43.8 |
| Hal | Chase | 1B | 1919 | 23 |
| Rube | Bressler | OF/P | 1932 | 20 |
| Cleon | Jones | OF | 1976 | 18 |
| Johnny | Cooney | OF/1B/P | 1944 | 17.6 |
| Cody | Ross | OF | 2015 | 13.5 |
| Ryan | Ludwick | OF | 2014 | 11.2 |
| Jake | Meyers | OF | N/A | 7.3 |
| Chas | McCormick | OF | N/A | 5.8 |
Here is an article from the Althletic about McCormick and Meyers that provided some explanation for their handedness: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/2805813/2021/09/09/astros-rookie-outfielders-jake-meyers-and-chas-mccormick-share-an-unusual-baseball-trait/
And here’s an article from Fangraphs that seems to validate my list (although using a slightly different value stat), but was too old to include Meyers and McCormick: https://tht.fangraphs.com/bats-right-throws-left-the-best-players-in-major-league-history/
Baseball America did a piece on Evan White and his odd handedness: https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/evan-white-is-a-rare-type-of-prospect/. He signed a 6-year deal with the Mariners, but was only briefly in the majors in 2000 and 2021, with hip and hernia injuries derailing his career.
Being a non-roster invitee will be a pretty big hurdle for McCormick to overcome, and my inclination is that he’s been brought in for some minor league depth and injury protection. Although, the way his contract is written – especially his opportunity to opt out if he is not in the majors – will play a part in how long (or whether at all) he will play at Iowa this season. Travis Jankowski had an immediate opt-out, which he exercised after not making the MLB club out of Spring. While Chris Flexen pitched in Iowa for a couple of months until his opt-out deadline came up.
Overall, I still would like to see a left-handed hitter to round out the bench with the 3 righties I’m currently assuming will also be there (Amaya, Shaw and Austin).
Cubs in 7 
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