baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

, a pull hitter is a batter who predominately hits the ball to the side of the field from which they bat. They are also known as a puller.

Definition

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

hitter stands on the left side of

home plate A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

and "pulls" the ball by sending it to the left side of the diamond. If the ball goes to the right side from a right-handed hitter, it has gone to the " opposite field". Players who rarely hit to the opposite field or the middle are called dead pull hitters. In general, pullers are meeting the ball earlier at the plate. Dickson, Paul.
The Dickson Baseball Dictionary
', 3rd edition. WW Norton, 2009.

History

Baseball

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

Paul Dickson recorded a usage of "pull hitter" in a 1925 column by Chilly Doyle in the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...

'', "The Pirate catcher ( Earl Smith) is one of the league's 'pull' hitters; that is, Earl, a lefthand batter of the slugging type, smashes most of his wallops to rightfield." The term was common by 1928 when

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...

used it in ''Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball''. In a section on "Correcting Batting Faults", he wrote, "Most fellows who can't hit curve balls are chaps who stride out of line or 'pull away' from the ball. Most batters who have trouble with slow ball pitching are 'pull' hitters. That is, they are meeting the ball 'out front.'" Ruth, George Herman.
Babe Ruth's Own Book of Baseball
'. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1928.

Ted Williams Theodore Samuel Williams (August 30, 1918 – July 5, 2002) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 19-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, primarily as a left fielder, for the Boston Red Sox from 193 ...

wrote, "the ideal hit is a pulled ball 380 feet because that's a home run in most parks in the big leagues". Charley Lau explained, "the best pitch to pull is one thrown on the inner half of the plate", i.e. the side closest to the hitter.

Rod Carew Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman, first baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minneso ...

pointed out that trying to pull the ball reduces the hitting area by at least half. The ability to hit the ball to anywhere on the field is an extremely valuable skill. Some of the sport's best hitters will pull inside pitches and hit outside pitches to the opposite field.Suzuki, Ichiro, and Jim Rosenthal.
Ichiro's Art of Playing Baseball: Learn How to Hit, Steal, and Field Like an All-Star
'. St. Martin's Press, 2006. Opposite field hitting is less often referred to as "pushing" the ball.

Shifting

It is common for

managers Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administr ...

to implement the defensive tactic known as " shifting" for pull hitters. Players are moved to the side of the field where the pulled hit is likely to come. In 1923, defenses regularly shifted for Cy Williams, and throughout his career,

faced the shift. For a left-handed

power hitter Power hitter is a term used in baseball for a skilled player that has a higher than average ability in terms of his Batting (baseball), batting, featuring a combination of dexterity and personal strength that likely leads to a high number of hom ...

Harold Baines Harold Douglas Baines (born March 15, 1959) is an American former designated hitter and right fielder in Major League Baseball who played for five American League (AL) teams from 1980 to 2001, and is best known for his three stints with the Chi ...

, a full "shift" moves the

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

to the

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

's normal position. The shortstop shifts to shallow

right field A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In t ...

between the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

basemen. The outfielders will also shift towards the right side of the field. Analysts found that when the shift is on, pitchers also tend to throw more to the inside to encourage pull hits. As

Sabermetrics Sabermetrics (originally SABRmetrics) is the original or blanket term for sports analytics in the US, the empirical analysis of baseball, especially the development of advanced metrics based on baseball statistics that measure in-game activity ...

developed, teams had more accurate information about batting tendencies, and they deployed the shift more frequently. In , teams shifted 3,323 times. By , the league was shifting 33,218 times a season. In ,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

essentially banned the full shift by requiring two infielders on either side of second base before each pitch.

References

Batting (baseball) Baseball strategy Baseball terminology Handedness in baseball {{baseball-stub

Definition

History

Shifting

See also

References