Report From The Fort: Batting Order Time!

In a recent MNSPN podcast, Roy Smalley talked a little about a time in his career when he batted cleanup. He was a team player, so he was happy to do what the team wanted, but he was never comfortable there, and he admitted it was partly because he was kind of embarrassed to be batting there. He knew what a cleanup hitter was, and he was no cleanup hitter.

It feels like we saw something similar last year when on-base machine Joe Mauer batted leadoff and promptly went right into the tank. It’s easy to say “Don’t change your approach” but these guys have a lifetime of expectations baked into their brains. Finding someone’s comfort zone is worth something.

(By the way, I just looked up Smalley’s career OPS as a cleanup hitter. It was .824, 84 points higher than his career OPS. So, as usual, I have no point.)

Where would Buxton hit instead? Well, today Buxton hit third in the lineup - and that’s the third time in the last four games that he has batted there. Molitor is clearly playing with the idea. Stay tuned.

One of the other places that Buxton has batted a couple of times lately is second, but today it was Jorge Polanco in that spot versus southpaw Chris Sale. Polanco is a switch-hitter, and he seems to be a true switch hitter, without a really dominant side.

I wondered if he might be a fit batting second from one side or the other. It turns out, for the last two years, he has hit for a higher average and higher OPS right-handed. However, he seems to have a better eye at the plate right-handed. For instance, last year hitting right-handed he had 27 strikeouts and 14 walks (about a 2:1 ratio). Left-handed, it was much worse: 19/3. But his batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS were all higher hitting left-handed. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ True to form, he got a hit versus the left-hander Sale, and a walk against the right-handed Joe Kelly.

But don’t get too accustomed to seeing Polanco there or at least not against southpaws. After the game, Molitor suggested this lineup was a little different than might be the case versus left-handed pitching in the regular season. In particular, he mentioned Robbie Grossman, who with his career .347 OBP, would be a pretty good fit in that second spot. With both Kepler and Rosario hitting left-handed, one could imagine a split platoon, where Grossman replaces one or the other.

And versus right-handers? We saw Kepler there the other night. Before that, over the last two weeks, the other regulars that have played there are Polanco (two weeks ago vs a right-hander), Buxton and Brian Dozier. Dozier would be a great fit there if Buxton bats third, but….

The smart money is riding on Brian Dozier to hit leadoff. He clearly feels most comfortable there, to the point where we hear about him lobbying for the spot. Indeed, he hit really well there last year, with a .917 OPS. He may just feel comfortable there. For those of you howling, I agree; putting their 40+ home run guy at leadoff makes no logical sense. On the other hand, there are worse hells than having one of your best hitters get most of your team’s at-bats.

Of course, the other player who would be great hitting second is Joe Mauer. He hasn’t played as often with Dozier and Buxton, so it’s not totally clear where Molitor sees him fitting. The last four times he has played with them, he led off twice and hit third and fifth (versus a left-hander) today.

Miguel Sano has pretty regularly hit out of the cleanup spot this spring, but in two game he played last week, Molitor tried batting him fifth. And with ByungHo Park likely making the roster, the Twins need to figure out how they want to space their dual slugging right-handed hitters.

Versus right-handers, one could break them up with Rosario or Kepler, both of whom have been anemic against left-handed pitching but effective against right-handed pitching. Unfortunately, neither has done a lot in camp this spring. Or, I suppose one could look at left-handed hitting catcher Jason Castro, who has veteranness (veterenacity? veterantment?) on his side. Plus his career OPS against right-handers virtually matches that of Rosario.

Monday we’ll likely see a number of backups in the lineup, but Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday expect the team to be ramping up for the regular season. We’ll see if Molitor settles on the right mix. You’re welcome to take your shot below.