A Look Into Ozzie Albies’ Switch-Hitting

The Braves have a slew of young stars, including the electric Ozzie Albies. Albies is a speed demon on the bases, a gold-glove caliber second baseman, and a force to be reckoned with at the plate. He got off to a blazing start in 2018, hitting .281 with an impressive 20 homers in the first half, earning him a trip to the All-Star Game. Albies’ luck was not so good in the second half, as his average dropped 55 points to a lackluster .226 to go with four homers. This day-and-night difference makes it hard to evaluate what exactly Albies will be, but his second-half struggles have people looking for answers everywhere. One of the most common questions raised is related to how his switch-hitting impacts his consistency at the plate. Let’s look closer at his splits.

In 2018, Albies looked like two different players when you compare his production from the left side of the plate to the right side.

From the left, where Albies gets most of his at-bats, he struggled tremendously in 2018. From the right side, his numbers looks like those of a perennial All-Star. His splits averaged out to a respectable-but-not-amazing .261 average with 24 homers and a perfectly league-average 100 wRC+ over the course of the full season.

As most baseball fans know, switch-hitting is no easy task. While most major leaguers have enough trouble adjusting and keeping one swing consistent and effective, switch-hitters have two distinctly different swings to work on. With as many adjustments that being an effective major-league hitter requires throughout the course of a 162-game season, doubling that amount of work would be a tall task for anyone. That being said, there are a few obvious differences between Albies’ left- and right-handed swings. The first and most obvious difference is that his leg kick from the left side is not as drastic as it is from the right. From the left, Albies still has a little separation between his knee and elbow, but from the right, he is almost hitting his elbow with his knee.

Albies said in an interview with MLB Network, “Growing up I would hit my elbow with my knee all the time, but in the minors I learned to quiet it down a little from the left to adjust to pitchers.” This adjustment never really seemed to make its way to the right side, as his leg kick is still extremely big. Two different leg kicks means two different ways to time pitches, and that can be a lot to handle for a young player in the big leagues. Albies’ much better numbers from the right means that he is probably just much more comfortable with the higher leg kick that he is used to and grew up with. From the left side, he averaged a home run every 30.5 at-bats, while from the right he averaged a homer every 24.5 ABs. The higher leg kick and more comfortable swing led to a higher HR rate and a higher average.

Another big difference in Albies’ swing is how he torques his upper half. In his right-handed swing, he is getting much more torque as his back is almost completely towards the pitcher and you can clearly see the number on his jersey. From the left, his number is much more hidden.

Albies’ very important differences in his two swings could certainly contribute to his drastically different numbers.

Albies’ splits have had many critics, as well as reportedly the Braves front office, discussing whether he should just focus on one swing at the plate. Personally, I think that it is way too early to make that decision. Albies is a young player and is still adjusting to the league, and to change the player that he is without giving him a complete chance to work out both swings would not be in the best interest of the Braves and definitely not in the best interest for Ozzie. Switch-hitting is such a valuable tool in the big leagues that if Albies could improve his numbers from the left side, he would be extremely more valuable than if he just hit right-handed. He doesn’t exactly need to be equally good from both sides, he just needs improve his numbers from the left side enough to not take away from all the damage he does from the right side of the plate.

Luckily, Albies has one of the best switch-hitters to ever play the game in Chipper Jones around to help him adjust. However, if Albies’ numbers don’t improve from the left side in 2019, it might be time to think about changing things. Until then, he has earned the chance to prove he could be an effective switch-hitter.