Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 23, 2005
Walking Walker

I really like this post by The BirdWatch in which the author discusses the downside of batting Larry Walker leadoff. I really like his idea, however, of batting Walker leadoff and the pitcher 7th.

If you wanted to get really cute you could put Grudz 8th and Eckstien 9th, with Walker, Pujols, Edmonds, Rolen 1-2-3-4. Each of those players gets the advantage of more at bats and after the first cycle through Walker and Pujols wouldn't be stymied by a lack of hitters in front of them.

Neither Grudzielanek nor Eckstein get on base as much as those four. I'd love to see La Russa try it out.


Posted by David Pinto at 01:49 PM | Strategy | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I thought that batting order had virtually nothing to do with offensive production. Isn't that what all the sabermatricians keep telling us?

Posted by: sabernar at February 23, 2005 03:35 PM

david, i agree with you --- josh's idea to bat walker pujols edmonds rolen 1-4 is a stroke of genius. but please check my reply to his post at birdwatch --- i think the upside / downside of walker as a leadoff hitter (ie, in a more "traditional" lineup) is still open to debate.

Posted by: l boros at February 23, 2005 05:20 PM

Sabernar....uberstatsman James Click over at Baseball Prospectus just did a good article on batting order, and added another study to the list showing that batting order had only the most marginal impact on runs scored. Yet it seems that there was some evidence that lineup structure had some impact. Quoth he:

"With regards to lineup structure, this was far from exhaustive research on the subject, but it appears that bunching better players together and sorting by descending OBP yields the best results for run scoring with similar lineups. However, the differences between those lineups and the traditional lineup structure are minimal. It’s entirely possible that adding factors such as steals, extra bases and left-right alternation may make enough of a difference to counteract losses in OBP towards the top of the lineup or bunching of the better hitters."


It's a pretty good article...

articleid=3766

Posted by: Dave S. at February 23, 2005 10:05 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?