Suggestion for Angels Batting Order

by hk47 on Jun 23, 2008 2:08 PM PDT Comment 35 comments

Hey Coach Mike,

If you're listening, I think your batting order needs a little work. Here is my suggestion. Fellow Angels fans, feel free to agree or disagree.

player/pos/hits/justification

1. Figgins, 3b (S)

2. Kendrick, 2b (R) - not hitting with enough power to hit third, but it doesn't make sense to hit him seventh

3. Kotchman, 1b (L)- the 3 best hitters for average on the team are Figgins, Kendrick and Kotch

4. Vlad, RF (R)- the only bad part of hitting him fourth is he gets less at bats than he does in the three hole

5. Hunter, CF (R)- the one weak link in my order is it leaves Guerrero and Hunter hitting back-to-back as right handers

6. Anderson, DH (L)- come on Mike, he's too old, too slow to play LF...DH the man

7. GMJ, LF (S)

8. Napoli/Mathis, C (R)

9. Izturis/Aybar, SS (S)- I like them both in the 9 spot. Gives the team some speed out of the last spot in the order, and essentially gives the team another leadoff guy for some innings.

Any thoughts? I mean obviously, Quinlan tends to play vs. left handers and so on. But this would be the general idea. Scioscia remarked recently that he thinks Kendrick should be hitting out of the three hole. I must say, I also like the Figgy-Izturis-Kendrick-Vlad batting order too.

But I think you put your highest OPS guys in the top 3 with Vlad as the prototypical cleanup guy.

Thoughts?

By the way, new member of the board here, this is my second post. Angels fan living here in Salt Lake City, UT.

This Fan-Post is authored by an independent fan. Tell us what you think and how you feel.

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Comments

What about bringing up another catcher to replace Napoli ?

Stay on the damn bag!!

by higdog on Jun 23, 2008 2:15 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

what's up with Nap

dude looks freaking lost big-time.

Go Angels!

by Four Ts on Jun 23, 2008 2:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Vlad in the three hole please

Seattle I would like to thank you for sucking. It allows me to get back to my roots: Hating Fremont.

by hauldog on Jun 23, 2008 2:16 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Kotch 4th

Seattle I would like to thank you for sucking. It allows me to get back to my roots: Hating Fremont.

by hauldog on Jun 23, 2008 2:17 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I get that too…like I noted, it is a disadvantage of my lineup posted above. Otherwise, do you like it?

by hk47 on Jun 23, 2008 2:56 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah, switch vlad & kotch and you're onto something

but i don’t mind the current setup with HK 3rd, vlad 4th & hunter 5th….with GA/GMJ down in the 6th/7th area. let’s move up kotch against LHers though.

Go Angels!

by Four Ts on Jun 23, 2008 2:22 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

of course

today’s lineup now has GA 3rd with Kotch 6th and HK down to 7th. So much for that. Seriously, who in their right mind thinks GA should hit 3rd?

Go Angels!

by Four Ts on Jun 23, 2008 2:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I don’t get this either. Sabermetrically it makes no sense. Which is why I have him in my 6th hole. And I hate Kendrick 7th.

by hk47 on Jun 23, 2008 2:55 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

The bad part about that is you have three RH’ers hitting in the 3-4-5 spots. Not optimal. That’s why I like Kotch hitting 3 or 4.

by hk47 on Jun 23, 2008 2:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

DFA GMJ

by Rev Halofan on Jun 23, 2008 2:40 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

He has been good this month.

Seattle I would like to thank you for sucking. It allows me to get back to my roots: Hating Fremont.

by hauldog on Jun 23, 2008 2:52 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

small sample size...

;)

"At some point, a veteran player will more often than not find his stroke. You just have to show them a little bit of patience."

by Downing Rules on Jun 23, 2008 3:38 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

GMJ & Phyzz

that’s 2 things now we’re on completely different sides on Rev. it’s all good though. there are times when i can’t even defend both. last night on the radio, Phzz says “and that’s it from Washington D.C., the angels win it 3-2 over the phillies.” thought of you right there Rev. :)

by SCHalo on Jun 24, 2008 10:27 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

our 2 spot and 3 spot have put up .290 and .295 OBPs respectively

we need howie and/or maicers .330+ OBP up there. Also, i like the Vlad, Torii(.465 SLG), Kotch setup. Id prefer a lineup of: (Avg/OBP/SLG)

1. 3B-S-Chone Figgins (.315/.422/.358)
2. 2B-R-Howie Kendrick (.311/.336/.420
3. RF-R-Vladimir Guerrero (.289/.349/.506)
4. CF-R-Torii Hunter (.276/.337/.465)
5. 1B-L-Casey Kotchman (299/.349/.448)
6. LF-S-Gary Matthews Jr. (.243/.319/.369)
7. DH-L-Garret Anderson (.258/.293/.384)
8. C-R-Jeff Mathis (.231/.314/.388) *C-R-Mike Napoli (.197/.293/.441)
9. SS-S-Maicer Izturis (.266/.330/.345) * SS-S-Erick Aybar (.268/.284/.372)

of course with some rotation of willits and rivera (last start game june 7th :[ ) and perhaps some morales

I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. BOW TO MY WILL AND MY HAMMER!

by anaheim angels on Jun 23, 2008 3:02 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah...except...

This is bad because…Howie, Vlad and Hunter hitting 2-3-4 are all RH’ers, and facing a RHP Kotch, Matthews and then GA would be three straight LH’ers.

by hk47 on Jun 23, 2008 3:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

maybe howie 7th, GA 6th, GMJ 9th, and Maicerick 2nd?

and lefties facing righties would be a good thing. and since matthews is a switch hitter, if its a leftie pitching, then we have a L-R-L matchup

I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. BOW TO MY WILL AND MY HAMMER!

by anaheim angels on Jun 23, 2008 3:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

and when a righty starts, howie and Ayzturis could switch spots to be a S-S-R-R-L-S-L-R-R

I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. BOW TO MY WILL AND MY HAMMER!

by anaheim angels on Jun 23, 2008 3:04 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

interesting...

but I don’t think you hit Howie ninth…

by hk47 on Jun 23, 2008 3:07 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

didnt we just sweep the phillies and arent we in first place

by surfpunk on Jun 23, 2008 3:15 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

More because of our pitching than hitting though, surfpunk…so, why not tinker with things a little bit?

by hk47 on Jun 23, 2008 3:33 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I say

Figgins
Kendrick
Hunter (more free swinging than Kotch, will see more fastballs in front of Vlad)
Vlad
Kotch
GA
Matthews
catcher
shortstop

OR…trade GA/Willits/ and a 3rd player if needed to Pittsburgh for Xavier Nady or Jason Bay!

Kendrick - he's a tender little guy.

by Rally Manatee on Jun 23, 2008 3:36 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I like this order too…but you have 3 RH’ers hitting in a row with HK, Hunter and Vlad, and then potentially 3 LH’ers hitting in a row if facing a RHP with Kotch, GA and Matthews…

If we make a trade for a bat, we should acquire a lefty bat like Adam Dunn. Gets on base a lot, hits home runs.

Xavier Nady is having a great season, but is a chronic underachiever. Bay is a bit overrated.

by hk47 on Jun 23, 2008 3:40 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Kendrick doesn't seem to do to well batting second/third

(anyway to find this out?)

Also, we kind of need his bat in an RBI position. Aybar is a 9 hitter unless he seriously raises his batting average (very low obp to bat 2). Iz is perfect at the 2.

Think it is worth a try to swap Kotch and GA. Won’t know if Kotch can handle the 3 yet until he tries.

Angels Defense. Angels Pitching. Get past that. :-[

by vladtheimpaler on Jun 23, 2008 9:37 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

you might be on to something with kendrick

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bsplit.cgi?n1=kendrho01#lineu-lineu
basically kendricks line for batting 2nd is .224/.250/.306/.556 in 88 PAs (avg/obp/slg/ops) 3rd is .231/.231/.308/.538 in 26 PAs. batting 7th his line is .342/.369/.474/.844 in 288 PAs and 8th is .358/.376/.542/.918 in 125 PAs. These are career numbers. Kotchman only has 8 career PAs batting 3rd (he homered once) but it appears as if the 5 spot is great to him. he boasts a .869 OPS along with a .318 avg and a .370 OBP and a .498 slg in 307 PAs. Garrets career best numbers come from the 4 and 6 spot (more power from the 4th, higher OBP from the 6th). this season he has been great batting 6th with a .500 slugging and an .841 OPS. so maybe a lineup of
1. Chone
2. Maicer (great career numbers, .445 SLG, .370 OBP in 330 PAs)
3. Kotch
4. Vlad (RAKES batting 4th with a career 4th position OPS of 1.014 and 1.200 this year)
5. Torii (.500 SLG this year batting 5th, and a career .483)
6. GA (see above)
7. HGH (.958 OPS THIS YEAR FROM THE 7 SPOT (in only 24 PAs) and a career .348 OBP batting 7th)
8. Howie although HGHs career stats are similar from the 7th and 8th spot, so howie and him could switch)
9. Mathis (i know, catcher battin 9th doesnt seem like a good idea, but his career best numbers have come from the 9 hole and has a .345 OBP this year)

aybar has been great from the 9 hole this year, but id rather have the high OBP maicer bat second than bat aybar there, who doesnt put up great numbers from the 2 hole. Napoli has great career numbers from the 8 hole, .351 OBP, .519 SLG and when he plays, then maybe so does aybar as well, howie bats second, and the admiral bats 9th. Reggie Willits (in a relatively small sample size, 50 PAs) has a JAW DROPPING .510 OBP batting second! Quinlan is putting up all star numbers from the 8 spot (.343/.387/.474/.861 in 230 PAs, i know!) Juan is good batting anywhere from 4-6.

I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. BOW TO MY WILL AND MY HAMMER!

by anaheim angels on Jun 23, 2008 10:41 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Damn your good

and fast too.

Angels Defense. Angels Pitching. Get past that. :-[

by vladtheimpaler on Jun 23, 2008 11:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

fast, ha, that took me a good 15-20 minutes to find all that

and then some more to put in the lineup

I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. BOW TO MY WILL AND MY HAMMER!

by anaheim angels on Jun 23, 2008 11:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Batting in front of Vlad...

is the best way to keep veterans productive. Sosh used Vlad to ensure that Cabrera saw lots of fastballs (worked like a charm), tried to do it with GMJ (did not work as well as we would have liked), and is trying to do it now with Anderson (we all know how that’s going). As a means for boosting vet value, I think its effective, and hopefully will take with Anderson given a little more time. The worrying thing is that Sosh identified Anderson as needing the help this year, as opposed to last year when Garrett batted behind Vlad.

by rghan on Jun 24, 2008 7:22 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

What will Tuesday's lineup bring?

With Monday’s order of Aybar hitting second bringing success, what will happen with Tuesday night’s batting order? We’ll soon know within a half hour…

I still don’t get Kotchman hitting sixth and GA hitting third. I think we ought to reverse those.

As much as I personally would love Kendrick hitting second or third…the stats back up what I hate to admit, he hits better in the 7th hole.

by hk47 on Jun 24, 2008 2:35 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

i agree

id rather have howie battin 2nd, but im hesitant to whether he will be able to produce there. it seems like when hes higher up in the order he is more self conscious about talkin walks and improving OBP and getting on base to help the heart of the order. btu when he is hitting 7th, then he goes back to his normal freeswinging ways. mike should tell him that you dont need to change your approach when hitting from different slots.

I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. BOW TO MY WILL AND MY HAMMER!

by anaheim angels on Jun 24, 2008 2:42 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

and with that...

...tonight’s lineup is the same as last night’s except Naps is in for Mathis. We’ll see how Howie and Aybar hit tonight. Again, I would love to see Kotch 3rd and GA 6th.

by hk47 on Jun 24, 2008 3:32 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

and for the 2nd day in a row...

notice GMJ is not in the lineup? Why isn’t anyone else jumping for joy?

"Never throw the ball so far over the fence where you can't go back and get it." Chuck Knox quoted through Darryl Henley

by Downing Rules on Jun 24, 2008 3:39 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

this doesnt make any sense

in his last 17 games he has a .339/.383/.464 (avg/obp/slg) line.
mike sticks with him when he sucks, then when he starts geting hot, he benches him. possible trade? please please please!

I AM THOR, GOD OF THUNDER. BOW TO MY WILL AND MY HAMMER!

by anaheim angels on Jun 24, 2008 3:46 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs