Fiddling around with the Lineup

[LA2]

I've always liked lineups with two speedsters at the top à la 1973's Bumbry (.398 OBP, .898 OPS) and Coggins (.363 OBP, .831 OPS) with 20 triples and 40 SB between them (although the percentage was less than desirable--19 CS).

Mullins (.371 OBP)

Mateo (.414 OBP, 1.034 OPS)

Adley (.423 OBP, .891 OPS)

Santander DH

Hays

Henderson

Urias

Mountcastle (.234 OBP) / O'Hearn

Frazier/Vavra/McKenna

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by LA2

[TommyPickles]

I don't know about batting Mountcastle 8th. He's been struggling a bit lately, but he still leads the team in HR (6) and has a higher OPS than Gunnar, Urias, Santander, Frazier, McKenna, or Vavra.

[vab]

Nice start but need to see a lot more of Mateo before moving him up to 2nd. In the meantime Rutchsman is fine there. 

[Roll Tide]

25 minutes ago, vab said:

Nice start but need to see a lot more of Mateo before moving him up to 2nd. In the meantime Rutchsman is fine there. 

I agree with going with the hot hand. Honestly, I’d lead Mateo then Mullins.

[LA2]

6 hours ago, Roll Tide said:

I agree with going with the hot hand. Honestly, I’d lead Mateo then Mullins.

Exactly. But I put Mullins in front of Mateo because he's the only runner who cd stay far enough ahead not to interfere w Jorge's flight path once he ignites his afterburners.

With those two on base, the pitcher, catcher, and pertinent infielders will go crazy worrying about double and delayed steals and everyone batting meanwhile will get more straight fastballs.

Edited April 24, 2023 by LA2

[LA2]

8 hours ago, TommyPickles said:

I don't know about batting Mountcastle 8th. He's been struggling a bit lately, but he still leads the team in HR (6) and has a higher OPS than Gunnar, Urias, Santander, Frazier, McKenna, or Vavra.

And all of whom except McKenna (who I have batting last) have much higher OBPs. Let them provide runners on base when Mountcastle hits his home runs, which is what his higher OPS is based on.

Edited April 24, 2023 by LA2

[spleen1015]

I agree that Mateo should be moved up, but Adley is the #2. Gonna be that way for a very long time.

[Tony-OH]

27 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

I agree with going with the hot hand. Honestly, I’d lead Mateo then Mullins.

I've always believed that you should adjust your lineups with the hot hands at the top. 

Why the Orioles keep running out an out machine like Mountcastle in the middle of the lineup is beyond me, especially when he's in one of his funks (that he always goes into multiple times a year). 

 

[Sanfran327]

53 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I've always believed that you should adjust your lineups with the hot hands at the top. 

Why the Orioles keep running out an out machine like Mountcastle in the middle of the lineup is beyond me, especially when he's in one of his funks (that he always goes into multiple times a year). 

 

Agree. Even more of a head-scratcher because Hyde has moved Mullins and Hays way down in the lineup this year during their struggles, but has seemed reluctant to do so with Mountcastle so far. 

Also, I like the Mateo 1 / Mullins 2 combo better because I've always been a fan of the LH hitter in the 2 hole to get the ball into RF. Markakis was great there. Rutschman won't be in the 2 hole for long - he's just getting that protection for a little while longer before Hyde takes the kid gloves off of him. He's our best hitter and should be batting 3rd. I think he will be by sometime in June and won't look back.

[EdwinRip]

Many teams bat their best hitter 2nd in modern day baseball.  Trout usually hits 2nd.

[Oriole1940]

Since they cannot steal first, go with the hot hands higher in the batting order.  Though while on a win streak, why fiddle with it at all?

[jamalshw]

I like it best with Mullins at the top and Mateo at the bottom. It forms that 1-2 punch of speed every time expect the first inning and while we run all the time, I feel like at the beginning of the game, it's best to see what the pitcher is dealing with. Sure, we can steal a bag or two if the opportunity presents itself, but I think there's more opportunities for that the second or third time through. I really like Adley in the 2-hole. He's the best hitter on the team (or at least the one with the most consistently good at bats). 

I'd like to see Mountcastle dropped a bit in the order. When he's hitting well, he's great, but he's streaky. I think he's more a 5-6 hole hitter than a 3-4 one. Unfortunately, Henderson not really hitting yet has put a wrinkle in what my ideal lineup would be as it would probably have him 4, but right now he's not hitting well enough for that. 

[LA2]

33 minutes ago, Oriole1940 said:

Since they cannot steal first, go with the hot hands higher in the batting order.  Though while on a win streak, why fiddle with it at all?

One reason would be that once we start playing better teams we will no longer be limiting them to two runs or less like the last week of games and will need to score more runs against better pitchers.

[Brooks The Great]

2 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

I've always believed that you should adjust your lineups with the hot hands at the top. 

Why the Orioles keep running out an out machine like Mountcastle in the middle of the lineup is beyond me, especially when he's in one of his funks (that he always goes into multiple times a year). 

 

Simple answer: Hyde is not a good manager. Managers like him make the right moves WAY too late.

[Tony-OH]

5 minutes ago, Brooks The Great said:

Simple answer: Hyde is not a good manager. Managers like him make the right moves WAY too late.

Well, I'm not convinced Hyde has a lot to do with his lineups besides being able to adjust if a guy is dinged up or under the weather. They say he has final call on the lineup with input from the "analytics department" but I'm guessing he's not making any waves and going against the grain in any way with Elias/Sig nd the analytics team.

Hyde hasn't made it this long as the Orioles manager by voicing concerns over the some times headscratching lineup decisions. 

This team is not scoring much but luckily, the pitching is on such a heater right now it's glossed over the lineup's issues currently.