How many RBI's has batting leadoff cost Gunnar?

[Natty]

6 leadoff homer's of course no one is on base. But the bottom of the lineup, everyone is struggling to bat above the Mendoza line except Mateo.

Why not Westburg,  Adley, then Gunnar?

 

 

 

[Moose Milligan]

I don't know.  

I also don't care.  I mean we're all Orioles fans...we all know Brady hit 50 homers out of the leadoff spot and I don't remember complaining about him not hitting lower in the order.  That's the funny thing about sports fans, they all want to fix "good enough" by tinkering with things...Gunnar is an MVP candidate out of the leadoff spot, why change anything?

6 leadoff homers is pretty great, it's jumping on the opposing pitcher and presumably, you're already up 1-0 in the first.  Or if you've given up a run or two in the top of the first and Gunnar leads off with a homer, you're answering back right away.

I'll also cue @DrungoHazewoodto come in and remind everyone that lineup optimization doesn't work...or really matter.

[spleen1015]

57?

[Sports Guy]

How many more runs created has Gunnar given us batting lead off?

 

That's the more important question.

[Aristotelian]

How many AB's would it cost him if he batter lower?

[Malike]

How much differently is he pitched in the first AB of the game vs higher leverage situations?

[Frobby]

This topic has been discussed at some length in the Gunnar thread, starting about here.   I can see arguments both ways.  Gunnar gets more bases empty at bats than the other players by virtue of leading off, but he also gets more at bats, period.  He’s probably missed out on some RBI opportunities, but he’s creating them for others.  He’s 4th in the majors in runs scored. 

[Frobby]

9 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

How many AB's would it cost him if he batter lower?

Over a full year, approximately 18 fewer PA per lineup spot.  18 less at no. 2, 36 less at no. 3, etc.

[HowAboutThat]

It was mentioned in the broadcast the other day that Gunnar was asked how he so often has an at bat in the ninth. He laughed and replied that he didn’t know, it just worked out that way.

I don’t know how many ninth inning ABs he gets but they are probably because he leads off.

[DirtyBird]

3 minutes ago, Philip said:

It was mentioned in the broadcast the other day that Gunnar was asked how he so often has an at bat in the ninth. He laughed and replied that he didn’t know, it just worked out that way.

I don’t know how many ninth inning ABs he gets but they are probably because he leads off.

Gunnar has 13 PA's in the 9th inning. Adley has 18.

[HowAboutThat]

3 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Gunnar has 13 PA's in the 9th inning. Adley has 18.

Ok, thanks, tell that to the broadcast guys.

BTW, I was considering the question of who would be a better choice than Gunnar for lead off? The only person I could think of would be Westburg, but the difference isn’t worth fussing over? I’m happy with this part of the lineup.

the real question is why not sit Mullins for a week, but that’s been done to death.

Edited June 3 by Philip

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Natty said:

6 leadoff homer's of course no one is on base. But the bottom of the lineup, everyone is struggling to bat above the Mendoza line except Mateo.

Why not Westburg,  Adley, then Gunnar?

I'm kind of a fan of batting the guy with the best OBP leadoff. That's as important as anything, far more than worrying about getting Gunnar more RBIs.

[DrungoHazewood]

1 hour ago, Moose Milligan said:

I'll also cue @DrungoHazewoodto come in and remind everyone that lineup optimization doesn't work...or really matter.

To be fair, if you batted your worst batter 1st, 2nd worst second, etc., you could cost your team as many as 10 or 15 runs over the course of 162 games. So let's try not to do that.

[now]

25 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

To be fair, if you batted your worst batter 1st, 2nd worst second, etc., you could cost your team as many as 10 or 15 runs over the course of 162 games. So let's try not to do that.

And is it fair to say 10-15 runs equates to about 1 to 1.5 wins? (Again, that's in a worst-order scenario.)

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

It was mentioned in the broadcast the other day that Gunnar was asked how he so often has an at bat in the ninth. He laughed and replied that he didn’t know, it just worked out that way.

I don’t know how many ninth inning ABs he gets but they are probably because he leads off.

I didn’t hear this question, but if they asked it, it was a lazy question.  There are six Orioles with more 9th inning plate appearances than Gunnar.