I recall a story shared somewhere on this website, when Jack Goin spoke of a time when he told Ron Gardenhire that Justin Morneau (a left handed hitter) should really be batting closer to the bottom of the order against left-handed pitchers, on account of Morneau’s poor platoon disadvantage. (Something like that.)
Gardy said back to him, something like: “I can’t move him down any lower than fifth, or I lose him as a three hitter too.” In other words, Gardy wanted to show confidence in Justin by leaving him at the top of the order even when the matchup was suboptimal.
what a privilege to hear stories like that, by the way
It’s a people game and I suspect something like what Gardy was talking about would be good for someone like Larnach or Kirilloff right now—let them play full time and become every day contributors, even though the lefty-lefty matchups might be suboptimal.