re: Baseball Talk, what’s your starting lineup?

quote:

---

1. Tre Morgan, 1B
2. Dylan Crews, CF
3. Tommy Tanks, 3B
4. Gavin Dugas, DH
5. Paxton Kling, LF
6. Josh Pearson, RF (Prove himself again after Fall ball)
7. Jordan Thompson, SS
8. Jack Merrifield, 2B (Most swapped position this year)
9. Alex Milazzo, C (Could see a lot of changes here)

---

Jay has proven he likes LRLRLR or RLRLRL he not going to put 4 righties in a row unless they are playing a tuff lefty pitcher to many players who can swing it for that

I'm one that's perfectly fine with Dylan Crews at leadoff.

I value the extra at bats in the leadoff spot more than others do, even if it is only a handful or 2. When you slide him down in the order, you lose those at bats and put additional pressure on the at bats he has with runners in scoring position. More opportunities to drive in runs, in sum, but with less at bats - which means less room for error. He will also get pitched differently with bases empty versus RBI opportunities. I just wouldn't want to go for the ceiling and end up on the floor. Batting him leadoff is safe, and I'm fine with it.

quote:

---

you lose those at bats and put additional pressure on the at bats he has with runners in scoring position.

---

Not wanting the best hitter in the nation to be hitting in pressure situations makes no sense

quote:

---

Not wanting the best hitter in the nation to be hitting in pressure situations makes no sense

---

Not wanting the best hitter in the nation to get 5-10 more at bats could be argued as senseless, too. You steal those at bats and you steal hits and runs. He led the team in RBIs as a leadoff guy. Move him down and you might get more RBIs, but he's on base and scores less.

Bottom line: I don't think you have a bad choice in where to hit him unless guys aren't driving him in behind him. He's your highest OBP guy, at bats/hits aside. And he's already your highest RBI guy. He leads the team in everything right where he's at. I hit him leadoff because it's safe and it ain't broken. If he doesn't hit leadoff, I'm fine with that too if he's not stranded too often (i.e. it works). I'm not fine with it if his RBIs go up but his other valuable stats suffer.

As an aside, my bold prediction is that another guy steps up as a leadoff hitter. Crews or Morgan are a natural fit. But maybe Pearson, Thompson, Kling, Merrifield, or Nippolt find something atop the order.

quote:

---

He led the team in RBIs as a leadoff guy.

---

I think he led off like 12x last year when I looked earlier

quote:

---

the best hitter in the nation to get 5-10 more at bats could be argued as senseless, too.

---

Not when you look at the runner on base data based on batting position. Leadoff sees significantly less runners on base

One thing I dont Think we’re talking about enough is bullpen depth.

Let’s assume our starters are
Skenes, Hurd, Floyd

Our bullpen could be
Little Dutton Taylor Collins Money
Cooper, Ackenhausen

Then you have a bevy of freshmen: Shores, Noot Moffitt, Bronzini

Javen Coleman was doing some light throws in the fall.

Half those guys we were considering potential weekend starter candidates last season. Dutton and Money were starting on weekends.

Where did you pull these stats?

I havent Been able to find a website that does College baseball splits.

Pearson
Crews
Morgan
White

That top of the lineup just sounds like crooked numbers


Pearson would get the benefit of seeing a ton of fastballs and Crews would have two top hitters to protect him.