[rburgh]

Bill James noticed when he first started studying FB/GB tendencies for pitchers and hitters is that FB hitters hit GB pitchers better than they hit FB pitchers. But when you think about that, it's actually logical; FB pitchers try to make you hit the bottom half of the ball. FB hitters try to swing under where they think the ball will be. So they hit popups and lazy fly balls.

The same with GB hitters and GB pitchers.

But the power hitters still get their HR's, because they have the bat speed, it's just that their median launch angle is higher than normal against FB pitchers. This effect applies as well for GB hitters, but their increase in launch angle usually just means they hit more line drives against FB pitchers than they usually do..