Ambidextrous baseball players more successful

Washington D.C. [USA], Nov. 1 (ANI): Baseball players, who bat left-handed, but throw with their right hand are more likely to have a successful career, than players who bat and throw left-handed, finds a recent study.

The findings indicated that the advantage of throwing right-handed but batting left not only increases the likelihood of players becoming professional players, but also improves a professional player's likelihood of being one of the top hitters in the Major League.

The research was conducted by David Mann from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Florian Loffing from the University of Oldenburg and Peter Allen Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England.

The team analysed data from a similar study released in 1982, and used new data from every major league baseball player from 1871 through 2016.

Mann said that baseball players who adopt a left-handed stance, enjoy a range of potential benefits, but the players who bat left and throw right-handed have a very large and additional advantage when batting.

Only two percent of the general population throws right-handed and bats left, yet 12 percent of Major League players throw right and bat left.

The research team conjecture that players who throw right-handed and bat left enjoy a biomechanical advantage, with the dominant (throwing) hand being placed further from the hitting end of the bat, providing a longer lever with which to hit the ball.

The research appears in Journal of Medicine. (ANI)