During Sunday’s Marlins broadcast, one of the announcers said that Giancarlo Stanton transformed the two slot in the lineup. Putting power hitters at the top of the order isn’t that new, as pointed out in a post earlier this year. In 2014 and 2015, Mike Trout and Josh Donaldson drove in a ton of runs batting second.
Part of this transformation is that lead-off men are driving in runs like never before. Charlie Blackmon set a record for RBI from the lead-off slot, while Brian Dozier and George Springer were not that far behind. Scroll through the list and notice the .500 slugging percentages.
Hitters in the #1 slot drove in 2142 runs in 2017, the most in the 30 team era. That crushed the record set in 2008, 2031 RBI. Managers are no longer afraid to use power hitters at the top of the lineup. Number two hitters also set a record with 2413 RBI, but that was just above the 2399 RBI set in 1999.
The Lineup Analysis Tool (LAT) tends to suggest lineups with power and OBP at the top. It looks like teams are starting to agree.
(Note that the slot leader this season was Nolan Arenado, who drove in 116 runs batting third.)
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2xKPYvO
No comments:
Post a Comment