What about trading Hicks?

[Shane Wahl]

I still don't understand much of the attitude towards Hicks around here. There is basically nothing out of the ordinary after April. He skipped a level after not doing well initially each year after normal promotions. I still have never gotten an answer about the number of players in recent memory who have skipped AAA and then started the year as the leadoff man for their team. How many players have done that? Is Hicks the only one?

[gunnarthor]

This fangraphs article on Victorino's grand slam got me thinking about Hicks:

The Grand Slam That Almost Wasn?t | FanGraphs Baseball

 

Why? Well, they point this out:

"Victorino has switch hit for his entire major league career, but gave up batting left-handed in early August... Since giving up batting left-handed, Victorino has had one of the most productive stretches of his career."

 

The grand slam Victorino hit against Veras to send the Sox to the WS? Did it batting righty vs a righty. Looking at his numbers, the only adverse effect has been a decrease in his BB/K rates while he's put up monster numbers.

 

The biggest knock I've seen against Hicks giving up switching hitting and batting righty full-time is the adjustment period, maybe a full season or more. If a guy like Victorino can successfully make the change away from switch hitting in mid-season and promptly put up impressive numbers, is this maybe an overrated concern?

 

It's a good point. I'm one that thinks it would be hard for a guy to switch to one way but I could be wrong. I hope Hicks and his hitting coaches at least discuss it. But I have no idea if Victorino is even remotely normal. I've read in the past that it's pretty hard for a switch hitter to go to one side. But maybe he and Florimon should.

[jay]

It's a good point. I'm one that thinks it would be hard for a guy to switch to one way but I could be wrong. I hope Hicks and his hitting coaches at least discuss it. But I have no idea if Victorino is even remotely normal. I've read in the past that it's pretty hard for a switch hitter to go to one side. But maybe he and Florimon should.

 

Right, we can't really make conclusions based off one guy doing it well. At the same time, there don't seem to be a lot of examples out there. Given how the stats have looked over a large sample for both Hicks and Florimon, I don't see how it could be much worse batting single sided.