re: Dear Kling:

quote:

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I don't get it. The guy is not just struggling, his confidence is obviously low. So he bats him lead off? I'm fine sticking with him, but bat him 7th or 8th. He doesn't work counts. He rarely fouls off a pitch.

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I guess 2 reasons:
1) he embodies a leadoff hitter, physically. Fast and can put stress on fielders when he makes contact; you have to throw faster than if someone slower is up there.
He might be the best physical example we have on the team
2) maybe Johnson is trying to work on his psyche: "you're the guy, you can do it better than the others, I'm going to put you up there so just relax and do it. Stop worrying and/or overthinking if you're good enough, I know you are"

part 1 may seem to be a waste of time if he's not hitting. But part 2 is JJ's way of getting him going, and he needs to get going if this team is going to turn a corner.

It's like if we only had Tommy White with no Jared Jones or Travinski, you have the 'run producer/slugger'. We have 3, so you can juggle them. If you only have one, you have to find a way to get him going. In the case of leadoff hitter, we really only have Kling, so if he slumps (or sits), the team suffers at that spot.