Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
August 23, 2005
Leading Off

This post at DePodesta For President made me want to look to see just how poorly NL lead off men were doing this season.

The coasts are in poor shape. I'm surprised by both the Mets and Dodgers having production this bad at the top of the order. The Mets surprise me because Willie Randolph was the quintessential lead off man, and he has Mickey Rivers hitting first. The Dodgers surprise me because DePodesta is the GM, and you'd think he'd supply Tracy with someone who could get on base from the #1 hole.

The heartland is well represented at the top of the heap with the Reds, Brewers and Cubs all having 1 or two players near the top of the pile. However, I'd like to know what happened to players like Rickey Henderson and Wade Boggs? Or even Brett Butler? These players got on base at about a .400 clip even in a low run era. I don't know why baseball has moved away from that type of player at the top of the lineup.


Posted by David Pinto at 03:36 PM | On Base | TrackBack (0)
Comments

While I will not defend the use of Reyes as a leadoff man, he does have a .343 OBP since the All-Star Break, whereas Izturis is around .220 OBP since June 1, at which point you might as well lead off the pitcher. Leading off the SS seems to be the rage in the NL at the moment.

Posted by: Crank at August 24, 2005 07:07 PM
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