[翻譯]讓運動員做自己：腿哥不一定要是左打！

[BODOdove (珍惜)]

(初次翻譯，請不吝指正)

原文出處:
The Hardball Times
http://ppt.cc/oOX8
Let Athletes Be Athletes: Fast Hitters Don’t Have to Be Lefties
JUNE 10, 2014 BY DAN FARNSWORTH

腿哥一定要是左打嗎？？

(打者從左打區出發真的會比較快？)

When it comes to projecting and developing amateur and minor-league players,
speed is completely overrated. I get why it is though; if the “hit-o-meter”
—a hypothetical tool that puts a two-digit, written-in-stone number on a
player’s hitting ability—had come out before the radar gun and stopwatch, I
probably would be lamenting the lack of hard-throwing pitchers and speedy
defensive outfielders in baseball. It is easy to measure speed, and it doesn’
t take a genius to figure out which players are good at using their speed to
impact a baseball game.

當我們要預測或養成一位業餘或是小聯盟的球員，速度這技能是被過份高估的。我知道
為何會如此：假設在雷達測速槍或碼秒出現之前，有一個所謂"打擊能力計"這種儀器，
直接測出一組兩位數字來表示打者的能力，我現在可能會因為聯盟缺乏剛速投手與具速
度的防守型外野手而難過呢！速度是如此容易測量，也不需要多聰明就可以知道球員如
何運用速度去影響球賽。


The part I have an issue with is when a fast hitter is virtually instructed
to abandon his hit tool early in his baseball development to focus solely on
his speed. Players like Carlos Gomez have been encouraged to hit the ball on
the ground rather than try to drive the ball, only to change gears before
enjoying career-defining success. But don’t believe me; let’s let Gomez
tell us himself:

這部份我想討論的問題是：一個具有腿的打者在養成過程中，往往很早就被教導只專注
在他的速度而拋棄其他打擊能力的培養。如Carlos Gomez曾經被鼓勵把球往地上打，而
非把球帶遠，在享受職業生涯成功之前唯有轉換技能(按：這句不太理解)。不用相信我
說的，讓我們聽聽Gomez自己怎麼說：

"For five or six years, I tried to hit the ball on the ground and bunt and hit
it the other way,” Gomez says. “I know people wanted to help me to do my
best, but it wasn’t working. I finally said, ‘I’m tired.’ If I was going
to be out of baseball, I wanted to at least try it my way.”

「大概有五六年，我試著把球往地上打、或是觸擊、或是用其他方式打擊，」Gomez說：
「我知道大家都想幫助我讓我表現好，但這些都沒用。最後我說；『我真的累了！』也
許終究我無法打棒球，但至少我想用我的方式試試看！」

Other hitters, usually natural right-handers, are taught to hit from the left
side in order to take advantage of being closer to first base. This
presumably allows them to get to first quicker and beat out more infield
singles. Billy Hamilton is a notable recent example, having begun to switch
hit in 2010. Shane Victorino also picked it up in the minor leagues at the
Double-A level in the Dodgers organization. Maybe that is the only way some
players get a shot at playing higher-level baseball, but these
career-altering decisions are made much too quickly when a player has plus
speed.

其他腿哥，通常天生是右打，卻被教導轉成左打只因為離一壘壘包比較近，這大概可以
讓他們更快到一壘，跑出更多內野安打。Billy Hamilton應該是最近值得注意的例子，
他自2010年開始左右開攻。夏威夷人Shane Victorino當年也在道奇AA開始練左右開弓。
也許對某些球員來說這是可以讓他們升到更高階的唯一方法，但是對擁有傑出速度的球
員，這種關係職涯的轉換決定往往下得太快！

I wrote an entire article about why even fast hitters shouldn’t hit ground
balls. Here I would like to question the second tactic fast hitters are
taught: are batters truly faster to first base from the left side of the
plate?

我曾經寫過一篇文章探討腿哥為何不應該打滾地球(參照http://ppt.cc/Uc9x)，這裡我
要對腿哥常常被教導的策略提出第二個質疑：從左打起跑真的會比較快到達一壘嗎？

It is obvious why they could be. The middle of the left-handed batter’s box
is at least a stride length closer to first base than for right-handers. In a
game where 0.4 seconds is the difference between average runners and the
fastest in the game, a few feet shorter distance certainly means a great
deal. However, think about the position in which a left-handed batter
finishes his swing.

這個結果似乎是顯而易見，左打區的中心距一壘壘包至少比右打區少一個大跨步的距離
。在一場比賽中，如果一般速度跑者和最快跑者的差距是0.4秒，僅僅數呎的距離當然
有著很大的決定性。然而，我們要考量當左打者完成揮擊時他的姿勢是如何！

(圖)http://i.imgur.com/BJTYHbc.png
(V-Mart左打)
(圖)http://i.imgur.com/HKKW2Mb.png
(V-Mart右打)


Now compare that to the position he is in at the end of his right-handed
swing.

Which position looks more ready to accelerate to first base? As a left-handed
batter, Victor Martinez here has to turn his shoulders and feet toward the
right side of the diamond before he can really be expected to reach full
speed. As a righty, his body is already facing first base, and he only needs
to start pumping his legs to get under way.

比較右打完成揮擊時的姿勢，哪一種姿勢看起來像是準備好加速衝向一壘了？站左打時，
V-Mart必須要將他的肩膀與腳轉向右邊線(一壘的方向)，他才能加速至最高速；反而站右
打時，他的身體已經是面對一壘壘包，他只需要提腿加速即可。

I am sure one or two of you are already logging into the comments section to
yell at me, “WHAT ABOUT ICHIRO, IDIOT?” Fair question, but the name-calling
isn’t necessary. Ichiro Suzuki used the best of both worlds by starting
closer to the bag on the left side while also beginning to run as he hit.
Though it is impossible to argue this strategy limited his hit tool (career
.319 batting average/.361 on-base percentage), there always have been
rumblings that he intentionally sapped his impressive power through this
approach.

看到這裡，我想有些鄉民已經在下面開噓了"怎麼不說說朗神呢？"沒錯，Ichiro將兩邊的
優點都擷取了：站左打比較靠近一壘壘包，同時在擊球時就已經準備起跑了！雖然不可能
去說這個策略限制了他的打擊能力(拜託，生涯AVG.319與OBP.361)，還是有許多聲音表示
這樣的方式削弱了他的power。

Since not everyone can be Ichiro, let’s look at some numbers. For starters,
I selected the 25 switch hitters with the most plate appearances thus far in
2014 and looked at their infield hit rates from each side of the plate. To
grab a bigger sample of numbers, I included the totals since the start of the
2013 season.

既然朗神不是人人能當，來看一些數據吧！首先，我選了25名在2014年有最多PA的左右開
弓打者，去比較他們站左打或右打時的內野安打比例，為了讓數據量大一些，我把2013球
季的數據也加進來。

Here is the full list, complete with infield hit percentages (infield hits
per ground ball) as well as the total number of ground balls for each side.
The last column is simply the difference between the infield hit percentages
for each side.

如下表，裡面有站各邊的內野安打率(滾地球形成內野安打的比例)。最後一欄則為兩邊比
率的差距。

                 2014球季左右開弓打者內野安打率(含2013球季)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
       Player        L GB     L IFH%     R GB     R IFH%      L-R IFH%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Billy Hamilton         45     22.20%      12      16.70%        5.50%
Angel Pagan           120      8.30%      61       3.30%        5.00%
Melky Cabrera         167      4.20%      71       1.40%        2.80%
Jarrod Saltalamacchia  95      4.20%      36       2.80%        1.40%
Jose Reyes            147      6.80%      60       6.70%        0.10%
Alberto Callaspo      150      4.00%      71       4.20%       -0.20%
Pablo Sandoval        182      3.30%      75       4.00%       -0.70%
Erick Aybar           227      4.40%      96       5.20%       -0.80%
Justin Smoak          119      5.90%      60       6.70%       -0.80%
Emilio Bonifacio      169      8.30%      76       9.20%       -0.90%
Jimmy Rollins         190      2.10%      67       3.00%       -0.90%
Jed Lowrie            143      1.40%      83       3.60%       -2.20%
Victor Martinez       211      1.90%      98       4.10%       -2.20%
Asdrubal Cabrera      132      3.80%      74       6.80%       -3.00%
Carlos Santana        150      4.00%      97       7.20%       -3.20%
Dexter Fowler         135      5.20%      68       8.80%       -3.60%
Nick Swisher          125      2.40%      79       6.30%       -3.90%
Neil Walker           192      2.60%      29       6.90%       -4.30%
Coco Crisp            147      3.40%      84       8.30%       -4.90%
Brian Roberts          71      1.40%      61       6.60%       -5.20%
Chase Headley         156      3.20%      58       8.60%       -5.40%
Ben Zobrist           200      5.00%      88      11.40%       -6.40%
Yangervis Solarte      48      2.10%      22       9.10%       -7.00%
Everth Cabrera        208      5.30%      83      13.30%       -8.00%
Danny Espinosa         71      1.40%      26      11.50%      -10.10%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

If there is a distinct advantage in being closer to first base, especially
one worth learning to hit from a different side of the plate, it should be
obvious here. At the top we have Hamilton and Angel Pagan, two notorious
speedsters, whose ability to beat balls out does seem to be better from the
left side. However, toward the bottom of the chart sit Everth Cabrera and Ben
Zobrist, who have an even larger difference in the other direction. Also of
note, the extremes on both ends are mostly made up of hitters who have
smaller samples to draw from. Nothing too conclusive yet.

如果站靠近一壘壘包有任何明顯的好處，尤其是為此去學習站在另一邊打擊，應該可以從
這個表看出來。最上面我們看到兩個有名的腿哥Hamilton和Angel Pagan，站左打區對他
們來說是比較有利的。然而若看到最下面，如Everth Cabrera和Ben Zobrist卻有著較大
的差距(右打較好)。在此說明，處在這表兩邊的極端球員因為樣本數太小，並無法下太多
評論。

For more definitive data, I decided to do some grunt work. I went through
MLB.TV’s archives to time each of these hitters running to first base. I
downloaded video of close plays at first from each side of the plate and used
QuickTime Player’s inspector to measure the time from contact to touching
first base. No human error-ridden stopwatches were harmed in the making of
this study.

為了擁有更多可靠的數據，我決定來做一些繁瑣的工作。我透過MLB.TV去計算每次這些
跑者跑上一壘所花的時間。我分別將站左右打的一些衝一壘接近的play下載下來，並用
Quicktime player去計算從擊球到踏上一壘壘包所花的時間，如此可避免人工按碼表所
造成的誤差。

There are two problems with this procedure that should be mentioned before
any further analysis. First, there is no real control here. They are all
running the same distance on similar plays, but we have no way of saying
definitively that they are running full speed on their fastest times. The
only real way to make sure would be to put these hitters through a
showcase-style workout, with each hitter having some incentive to bust it out
of the box to first base.

在做任何分析之前，必須先提醒這個研究會有兩個問題：一、這裡並沒有真的對照組，
跑者雖然在類似的play都跑了一樣的距離，但我們都無法說跑者已經用他們最快的速度
全速衝刺。如果真的要確定此事，只能將這些球員聚集起來辦個比賽，並刺激他們用最
快的速度衝刺到一壘。

The second issue is the bias inherent in hitters’ beliefs. A speedy player
who hits a ground ball from the left side will likely feel he has a better
chance of beating the throw than he does from the right side. I was not as
worried about this bias, since it should skew the data further in favor of
faster times from the left side, which is not necessarily what we see.

第二個問題就是存在於跑者心中內在想法的差異。一個腿哥在左打擊出滾地球的當下，
可能認為他比在右打時更有機會能夠快過傳球、站上一壘。不過我並不是很擔心這個誤
差，因為這會造成數據呈獻出左打時擁有較快的速度，這和我們觀察到的並不一致。

Listed here are the results of this endeavor, showing the fastest time for
each side and the difference between the two.

下表列出各打者站左右打時的最快時間以及兩者的差距：

2014左右開弓打者跑到一壘的最快時間
---------------------------------------------------------
   Player              R Fast  L Fast  L – R
---------------------------------------------------------
Jimmy Rollins           4.14    4.43    0.29
Jarrod Saltalamacchia   4.40    4.57    0.17
Yangervis Solarte       4.35    4.52    0.17
Everth Cabrera          4.01    4.13    0.12
Chase Headley           4.60    4.72    0.12
Dexter Fowler           4.07    4.18    0.11
Melky Cabrera           4.37    4.47    0.10
Alberto Callaspo        4.32    4.42    0.10
Nick Swisher            4.57    4.64    0.07
Asdrubal Cabrera        4.50    4.51    0.01
Erick Aybar             4.24    4.24    0
Jose Reyes              4.04    4.04    0
Justin Smoak            4.74    4.74    0
Pablo Sandoval          4.41    4.40    -0.01
Jed Lowrie              4.34    4.33    -0.01
Brian Roberts           4.41    4.40    -0.01
Carlos Santana          4.37    4.34    -0.03
Billy Hamilton          3.86    3.81    -0.05
Angel Pagan             4.10    4.03    -0.07
Danny Espinosa          4.34    4.27    -0.07
Neil Walker             4.32    4.24    -0.08
Ben Zobrist             4.34    4.24    -0.10
Emilio Bonifacio        4.07    3.93    -0.14
Victor Martinez         4.87    4.61    -0.26
Coco Crisp              4.22    3.90    -0.32
-------------------------------------------------------

My initial obvious yet obligatory observation? Hamilton is really fast. He’s
almost two tenths of a second faster than just about everyone, with Bonifacio
and Crisp the only others coming in under four seconds. Inconsequential for
our purposes, but it is still fun to see how awesome Hamilton is.

我最先觀察到的結果是什麼哩？Hamilton還真是夭壽快！他大概比第二名的腿哥快了將近
2成！再加上Bonifacio和Crisp是唯三進入4秒內的球員。這和我們的目的沒有太大相關，
不過仍然可以讚嘆一下Hamilton的腿中之王！

Beyond that, we see a similar spread to the infield hit rates above. Eleven
of these hitters are faster from the left side, compared to just 10 being
faster from the right. That advantage is even less impressive with the
average coming in at 0.004 seconds in favor of the lefty versions. There are
fast and slow runners mixed throughout the table, with Bonifacio and Crisp on
the opposite end of Everth Cabrera and Rollins, and Aybar and Reyes dead even
in the middle.

除此之外，我們可以看到類似於內野安打率的分佈：有11個打者在左打比較快，10個在右
打比較快，然而站左打的好處幾乎不明顯、只有0.004秒的差距。這裡我們將跑得快和跑
得慢的打者混在一起，分佈在兩端的一邊如Bonifacio和Crisp、另一邊如Everth Cabrera
和Rollins，也有如Aybar和Reyes是一樣快的。

For a visual of how this breaks down, let’s look at Hamilton in his fastest
times from each side of the plate. Here he is getting out of the box from the
left side (3.81 sec):

用肉眼來判斷這到底是什麼原因，我們分析Hamilton分別在左打和右打最快速度的影片：
(左打，3.81秒)http://ppt.cc/iL5A
(右打，3.86秒)http://i.imgur.com/EyYZtE9.gif

同時用截圖一格一格來比較如下

             左打                                    右打
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(擊球瞬間)
http://i.imgur.com/C3930wV.png           http://i.imgur.com/uu9SJV1.png

(0.8秒)
http://i.imgur.com/9Gzpw8h.png           http://i.imgur.com/47PncIx.png

(1秒)
http://i.imgur.com/m03cSv2.png           http://i.imgur.com/oh8nUUo.png
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

He obviously starts closer in the left-handed box, and he maintains the lead
after 0.8 seconds. By the one-second mark, however, he is almost dead even
from both sides. His better starting position from the right side allows him
to accelerate sooner than from the left.

明顯地在左打區時一開始是比右打更接近一壘壘包，在0.8秒時也維持著領先，然而在1秒
時的截圖可以看到，兩者的位置幾乎一樣了！這是因為右打有著較好的啟動姿勢，能讓
他比在左打時加速更快。

As we can see from the data, there is a lot less of an advantage batting from
the left side than commonly assumed, if there is any at all. Some hitters may
be able to get down the line appreciably faster from the left side, but at
what cost? If a hitter’s primary focus while he is swinging is to get out of
the box, the quality of contact surely is going to suffer. Ichiro is the
exception that proves the rule; if everyone had his combination of speed and
unbelievable hand-eye coordination, this would be a different story.

從數據可以發現，站左打並不如一般假設那樣有那麼多好處(如果他有什麼好處的話)。
有些打者也許會感激練左打讓他快一些，不過代價是什麼？如果一個打者只在揮擊時想著
等下衝出打擊區，其contact的能力一定會受影響，當然朗神是個例外，如果每個人都有
像他那樣的速度與不可思議的手眼協調，那又是另外一個故事了。

The one other advantage I left out until now is bunting. Drag bunting
certainly is easier from the left side, and Reds personnel claim Hamilton was
able to post a 3.3-second time to first on a bunt in spring training.
However, even the most prolific bunters cannot carve out a career on that
skill alone. They have to be able to hit the ball with some authority for the
other team to give them any kind of respect, which allows them the space to
use the bunt as a true weapon.

另一個左打的好處我留在這邊才講的是觸擊。邊觸邊跑當然是左打來的容易些，Reds的
人員也說Hamilton在春訓時從觸擊到一壘只要3.3秒。然而即使是如此的觸擊者也無法只
靠這項技能闖蕩職業，他們仍需要有效的擊中球，讓別隊有所防範，此時就有空間使用
觸擊這個真正的武器。

Please understand, this is not meant to pick on Hamilton or the Reds’ player
development system; he is merely a more exciting player to examine than most.
Hamilton already had experimented with hitting from the left side before
trying it in games, and you have to respect the coaches who work directly
with him for having more information than we do. For some, this style of play
may be their only shot to progress to higher levels of baseball, simply
because they lack the hitting ability to be anything more than a speed-first,
slap-the-ball-around type of hitter. To say no one should hit a certain way
is as ridiculous as saying everyone should.

請各位瞭解，這裡並不是要對Hamilton或是Reds的養成系統找碴，他只不過是比較有名
以致於受到檢視較多。Hamilton並不是在比賽中才嘗試左打，之前就已經訓練了，我們
還是要尊重那些在他身邊擁有比我們還要多資訊的教練，對有些人來說，這種方式是讓
他們升到高階的唯一方法，只因為他們欠缺其他打擊能力以至於要把速度放第一，說沒
有人該這樣打，和每個人都該這樣打，都是一樣荒謬。

My wish is only that players would be allowed to develop fully as hitters
before being typecast, limited to roles they may outgrow given the chance. Don
’t cheat us from getting to see the most explosive athletes impact all
facets of the game. Let them spend time improving the most important tool on
offense—hitting—and discover for themselves what kind of player they will
be. Imagine whose careers might have gone differently with open minds
surrounding them.

我只希望球員在養成過程中，在被定型、限制成長角色以前，能完整培養打擊能力：別
欺騙我們說將會看到多厲害的球員對比賽有多少影響。讓他們好好花時間培養最重要的
技能「打擊」並讓他們自己去發現會成為怎樣的球員，想像一下如果思想開放一些，也
許誰的生涯可能就此改變呢！

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※ 文章網址: http://www.ptt.cc/bbs/MLB/M.1404841701.A.EDA.html
推 best31403:推好文
推 da452nny:優質好文
推 cd12631:這篇應該寄給台灣各層級教練看
推 nolander:推
→ EEERRIICC:台灣教練很需要看 養成觀念
推 condition0:推
推 WadeMiley:這滿有趣的 跟印象不同
推 flymyself:推
推 nickyang:這個樣本數我不忍心看...
→ nickyang:即使撇掉樣本數的問題，「平均而言」左打沒有比較快也不
→ nickyang:能否證「腿哥」左打有好處
推 l60km:推 這研究工作量挺大的啊...!!
→ nickyang:況且以他樣本需要的時間的精細程度，我很懷疑quicktime
→ nickyang:player有比人工碼表好多少
→ nickyang:這是一個有趣的題目，但是這個方法嘛...
推 Werth:每個人不盡相同 重點在於不要用過去的框架限制球員的發展
推 ppoll2:推一個  不錯的想法及過程
推 ssaintz:推!
推 wahaha5678:好文推!
推 KuoThei:深度好文，不推不行！
推 duepre:好文推
推 vergilmir:好文 光是那個轉身跑 跟正面起跑就能說服我了
推 hihi29:推
推 overseaking:推
推 vg175:推
推 tortoise2006:好文章
推 doa2:朗神真的是出棒完的姿勢就已經往一壘方向衝了
推 WLR:好研究
推 MrNeverDie:推～翻譯辛苦了，謝謝！ 看完這篇覺得重點是朗神真神XD
推 ZhaiMan:Rickey Henderson就是右打的腿哥了 而且還是目前的一哥
→ uranusjr:用來證明左右打起跑姿勢的 screenshot 不是很, 嗯合適
推 jet113102:優質好文
推 JakeMcGee:本壘到1B是Hamilton最快 1B到2B是Gordon最快
→ BODOdove:因為覺得這題目滿有趣的，所以拿來翻譯分享
→ BODOdove:當然其研究方法和樣本數確實不是那麼有力，參考就好
→ BODOdove:還有截圖應該是因為轉播角度改變只好那樣取樣
推 homkei:這篇太專業推
推 catsondbs:看到QuickTime Player第一時間我還以為是反串 XD
推 FreeFly:一般也不會叫有hit或power tool的腿哥去練左打就是了
→ FreeFly:就是打不到球了才要死馬當活馬醫醫看換左打觸擊看看
→ FreeFly:不過也常有人講天生那邊都揮不到了 後來練的怎麼揮的到 XD
→ EEERRIICC:總覺得揮不到球 改成左打碰球的機率比較高
推 PsMonkey:專業推... 這篇重點是：朗神不是叫假的這樣？  XD
推 kurt28:這篇文完暴臺灣教練...
推 OneCell:這篇讚
推 az755181:好文推
推 hit0123:結論: 一朗是神 XDDD
推 TKW5566:怒推
推 fetoyeh:還滿有趣的一篇 一直要排除一朗這點我笑了 XDD
推 JubeChocobo:有趣的分析方式 可是要戰這個這樣分析實在有欠考慮
→ JubeChocobo:我覺得至少打者當下的揮擊形態跟揮擊的球種都要考慮到
推 Fanicom:推推~
推 MTal:這才叫現代棒球!
推 MrNeverDie:看來大家都對這樣分析感到不妥，所以我就說重點是一朗
→ MrNeverDie:真神XDDDD
推 edhuang:推~~
推 ph49:真理是要透過不斷驗證得到，而不是憑印象，推有趣的文章
推 newest:一朗傳說wwwwww
推 MichaelBourn:( ￣ c￣)y▂ξ
推 yces3108:推 真正的棒球觀念
推 julyrui92:推
推 skyer1042:這則翻譯讓我獲益良多啊!讚
推 dk210095:不推不行，不管怎樣我是信了
推 b2209187:這篇很專業
推 fuan791013:推
推 kenny781558:好文推~~
推 tsming:結論：一朗是神，不用討論他