Don Mattingly explains rationale on pinch-hitting for Jazz Chisholm Jr. vs lefty relievers
When Jacob Stallings recorded a two-out single in the top of the seventh inning Friday and the Miami Marlins down one run against the Atlanta Braves, manager Don Mattingly went to his bench and made a pair of switches.
The first was going to happen regardless. Jon Berti went to first base to pinch-run for Stalling and the Marlins speed on the basepaths.
The second was a reaction to a move by the Braves.
Atlanta manager Brian Snitker made a pitching change, bringing in left-handed pitcher Tyler Matzek with left-handed hitter Jazz Chisholm Jr. due up for the Marlins.
Mattingly’s response: He used right-handed hitter Bryan De La Cruz to pinch-hitting for Chisholm.
“We just felt like that was a spot and that was a better matchup that we liked,” Mattingly said. “Take a shot.”
The decision backfired, with De La Cruz striking out, but the numbers behind the decision were as follows:
▪ Matzek has limited left-handed hitters to a .187 batting average and .535 on-base-plus-slugging mark in his career.
▪ The left-handed-hitting Chisholm has a career .685 OPS against left-handed pitchers over a small sample size of 171 plate appearances, while righty De La Cruz entered the game with a .333 average and .929 OPS in an even smaller sample size of 63 career MLB plate appearances.
While Mattingly said after the 3-0 loss on Friday that there will “absolutely” be points this season when Chisholm will get at-bats in those situations, those opportunities have seldom arrived so far.
Chisholm has had just seven plate appearances against left-handed pitchers this season. He is 1 for 6 with an RBI double and a sacrifice fly. Both of those run-producing plate appearances came in the same game: Miami’s 11-3 win over the Phillies on Sunday. He hit the double against Christopher Sanchez in the sixth inning of that game and the sacrifice fly against Brad Hand in the seventh.
Chisholm also has started just one of three games the Marlins have played against a left-handed starting pitcher. He sat in their 2-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on April 9 when Carlos Rodon was on the mound and their 10-3 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday when they faced Ranger Suarez and was not used as a pinch-hitter in either of those games.
He started and batted ninth on April 12 against the Los Angeles Angels’ Patrick Sandoval, flying out both times against him.
“Donnie knows that I’m a guy that wants to be out there every day and wants to win,” Chisholm said on April 10, one day after he expressed his frustration on social media about not being in the starting lineup the day before against Rodon. “He knows I’m the guy that wants to help the team win and I want to be the one out there. If anything, everybody knows that I’m a lover of baseball, and that’s all I love to do is play baseball. If I’m not out there trying to help my team win, I’m mad anyway — even if it is my off day. Donnie knows me personally and I feel like he understands that.”
Friday also marked the second time this season Mattingly used a pinch-hitter for Chisholm late in a game against a left-handed reliever. The other was Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals, when Mattingly chose to have Jorge Soler bat for Chisholm against T.J. McFarland, who Mattingly described as “basically a lefty killer.”
“We’ll do what we have to do to try and win games,” Mattingly said Friday. “Jazz and I’ve talked about this. Jazz is gonna be a great player. We’re doing what we do with any of our guys. At this point in his career, we’re going to try to match up a little bit. He’s gonna play against lefties. He’s not gonna sit against all lefties and not gonna get pinch hit against all lefties, but there’s certain ones, matchups that are obviously tough for him.”
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