Where have all the lefties gone?

This year, less than 1 out of every 4 starts in the DMBL has been made by a lefty -- a percentage that's way down from last year, when 30 percent of starts were made by lefties. In fact, at the current pace, just 499 starts will be turned in by lefties this season -- by far the lowest number of left-handed starts as far back as we can track (1999).

Last year, lefties were given the start 673 times, out of 2,268 games (30 percent). This year, lefties have started just 169 out of 768 games (22 percent). Unless a lot of teams start using a lot of lefties, this will set a new record for fewest lefty starters used, shattering the old record set in 2009 (538 starts, or 24 percent). The highest use of lefties dates back to 2004, when 750 lefties were used (33 percent of all starts). All told, from 1999 through 2012, 8,470 out of 30,260 games have been started by lefties, an average of 28 percent.

Why aren't people using lefties? Is it because of the long-held belief that lefties, due to benches full of lefty mashers, are doomed in the DMBL? It's true that this season, teams have losing records in games started by lefties (82-87). But consider last year, games started by lefties produced a winning record (343-330) -- as they did in 2010 (353-350) and 2009 (283-255)!

Amazingly, just one team accounts for a sixth of all starts by southpaws this season -- the Amityville Ant Slayers, who have three in their rotation (Cole Hamels, Madison Bumgarner, and Jon Lester). Four teams (Blue Ridge, Hoboken, Rowdy, and Vancouver) have two lefties in their rotations, and seven have one. Bridgewater and Newark have each used a lefty for just one start, as an injury replacement. Hillsborough and Sardine City haven't used a left-handed starter all year. In fact, the Straphangers don't even have a left-handed reliever!

One interesting consequence of so many people using right-handed rotations: Of the 73 free agent pitchers who are eligible to be used as starters, 24 (33 percent) are left-handed -- including six of the 10 starters with the lowest ERAs. If a rash of injuries hits starting pitching this summer, expect the number of left-handed starters to go up!