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Markakis is the Key!


Capn Vivi

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I'm not sure, but I believe that at least part of the reason for Markakis' offensive resurgence is due to the large chunk of time that he missed because of his injury. That was the first time in Markakis' career that he had a bona fide injury that has caused him to miss any sort of real time. And you know that he was just dying to get back in there and play the whole time (6 weeks). In the sense of "absence makes the heart grow fonder" and/or "you don't know what you have until you lose it," I think that it's quite possible that on some level, Nick may have had a new-found appreciation for how much he actually loves to play baseball, and realized how much he misses it when he can't play, hence maybe he re-charged his physical and emotional baseball battery. :)

Nick was hot for three weeks before his injury, and July/August are his best two months traditionally. So, I don't know that the time he missed is relevant.

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I think that it's quite possible that on some level, Nick may have had a new-found appreciation for how much he actually loves to play baseball, and realized how much he misses it when he can't play, hence maybe he re-charged his physical and emotional baseball battery. :)

Well I like your explanation anyway. I think the emotional/mental aspect of the game is very often overlooked.

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Markakis is on fire. I had a feeling he'd rake today. Markakis kills junkballers. I have no evidence to support that, but through the years I've noticed he loves facing low velocity fastballs and junk. That's what Vargas is.

His curve was more than junk!

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Hitting .346 in the leadoff slot. Only knew it was a matter of time before Buck figured out that's the best place for him.

Or... he happened to be fully healthy for the first time in a while, that coincided with a time where he was needed in the leadoff spot. Mix the two together and batting leadoff becomes the natural place for him. I have a feeling that had the O's already been in possession of a leadoff hitter #3 would have been a natural role for him, too.

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It's about time, honestly. This should have happened once Roberts went down for an extended period of time. Markakis really looks good, and it's way easier to accept the fact that he doesn't hit for as much power when he's hitting out of the leadoff spot. Even though he is having a good power year, all things considered with the DL time, etc.

Scaling his 2012 numbers to 162 games gives him 42 doubles and 24 homers.

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Or... he happened to be fully healthy for the first time in a while, that coincided with a time where he was needed in the leadoff spot. Mix the two together and batting leadoff becomes the natural place for him. I have a feeling that had the O's already been in possession of a leadoff hitter #3 would have been a natural role for him, too.

Actually his career numbers suggest he's better at #2 than #3. Contact hitter with a good eye who can get on base. Heir-apparent to Roberts at leadoff.

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Actually his career numbers suggest he's better at #2 than #3. Contact hitter with a good eye who can get on base. Heir-apparent to Roberts at leadoff.

But that's probably more coincidence that anything else. I think performance drives batting position, rather than the other way around. Markakis happened to be needed/wanted in the #2 hole when he was hitting better than when he was needed/wanted in #3.

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But that's probably more coincidence that anything else. I think performance drives batting position, rather than the other way around. Markakis happened to be needed/wanted in the #2 hole when he was hitting better than when he was needed/wanted in #3.

I love Markakis 500,000x more hitting 2nd then 3rd.

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But that's probably more coincidence that anything else. I think performance drives batting position, rather than the other way around. Markakis happened to be needed/wanted in the #2 hole when he was hitting better than when he was needed/wanted in #3.

It's not as if he was just thrown into the 2 spot on occasion, he has 742 ABs there compared to 991 ABs when batting 3rd over the past 3 seasons (09-11). So there's a large enough sample size that it can't be purely based on his hot and cold streaks. I don't think he's a natural 3, he's probably best suited to 2 or leadoff. Is he capable of batting 3rd? Of course, he's proven that already. But I think we'll get more value from him at leadoff than at 3, even if we had someone else capable of handling leadoff.

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I love Markakis 500,000x more hitting 2nd then 3rd.

That's fine, but there's still little statistically significant evidence that he's better in one spot or the other. Or that anyone's performance it determined by batting order position.

Yes, I'm well aware that other people's guts disagree.

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