Terry Francona uses Carlos Santana as his lead-off hitter, and Terry explains his reasoning:

”Speed’s always good, but at the top of the order, you want guys on base,” Francona said. ”You don’t want to clog the bases, but you want guys on base for your best hitters. That seems like common sense.”

There’s a nice little shout out to Dusty Baker in there, but clogging doesn’t matter, especially if you have power behind the slower runner.