Bat Off the Bench

The Nationals signed Adam Lind to be their backup outfielder/first baseman. Lind is an excellent career pinch hitter, as mentioned in the article, plus he gives Dusty Baker more options to rest veterans:

But Lind might also help keep Zimmerman on the field, because with reliable power available to play first, Manager Dusty Baker can rest Zimmerman more often to maintain his recently fragile health. Lind could also occasionally play left field to spell Jayson Werth, another veteran Baker likes to monitor closely. If both are healthy and producing, Lind becomes an asset off the bench. He has a .309 average and .921 OPS in 108 pinch-hit at-bats. He will combine with Chris Heisey, who is the active leader in pinch-hit home runs, and Stephen Drew, who hit eight home runs in 143 at-bats last year, to make the Nationals bench even more formidable than it was in 2016, when Baker and GM Mike Rizzo praised the group from start to finish.

Now we’ll see if the Nationals bring in Matt Wieters.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2kqkuAd