The conventional baseball operation has a starting pitching staff dominated by right handers. It may be that there are more right handed people in general. Typically, a staff has four right handers and a lefty in the rotation.
It also may be a factor that there are more right handed batters in the majors. The percentages and conventional wisdom state that right handed pitchers have an advantage over right handed hitters. It seems that the angle of release is hidden a fractional longer in a RHP-RHH battle. This is why managers normally opt for a left handed pinch hitter against a righty (and vice versa).
So the White Sox are quite unique. They have a starting rotation dominated by LHP: Sale, Danks, Quintana and Santiago. And some people think that is a bad thing.
There are a few points to dispute the notion that the White Sox are too lefty:
1. Good pitchers can pitch well against all hitters. Sale gets right and left handed batters out. It is the types of pitches, command and the control that is the key to any successful pitcher.
2. Teams are more used to right handed pitchers so a slew of lefties would be different. Players, especially batters, are constantly told that they need to adjust their swings and mechanics during a game, a series, etc. It takes at least one AB to get used to the mechanics of a pitcher, to pick up the ball, mechanics, speed and location. The next AB is used to sync up the pitching style of the hurler to the game situation (is he a first ball strike pitcher; will he throw away or jam you with a runner on, etc.). Those sabermetrics are compiled for all pitchers, but every game unfolds differently.
3. Left handers tend to be less power pitchers than control pitchers. Randy Johnson was a flamethrowing cannnon. At 6'11", he was an intimidating force on the mound. But most left handed pitchers do not have a 100 mph fastball (Chapman is an exception), so they rely more on changing speeds to throw strikes. As many hitting coaches will say, a pitcher who can effectively change speeds plus-minus 10 mph in a sequence with control, is harder to hit than a straight fast ball pitcher. The prime example of this speed control style is future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux.
So, as the Winter Meetings start, there will be some words about the "need" the White Sox to trade a left handed starter, probably Santiago, for a third baseman or lead off man. But in reality, the Sox should keep their five best starters, period, regardless of what arm they throw from.
