Angels Official Website: Trout to stay connected to Pujols in batting order

[AngelsWin.com]

Angels manager Mike Scioscia reiterated Thursday that he prefers to keep Mike Trout and Albert Pujols connected in the lineup, which means the 2-3-4 spots figure to be Trout-Pujols-Josh Hamilton, respectively, and that a new leadoff man will have to emerge.

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[Hubs]

Absolutely stupid in my opinion. 

 

Sciosica always likes to go R-L-R-L if he can, but he's putting the Angels two best right handed hitters next to one another. And Pujols will not be sacrificing to get Trout from 2nd to 3rd, ever. 

 

Calhoun should be the #2 hitter. 

 

Trout should bat 1st or 3rd. 

[ScottT]

Absolutely reasonable and understandable.  Possibly, optimal.  

[Blarg]

I would put my best three hitters in a row.

[AngelsLakersFan]

I'd like to see Hamilton bat third against righties if he proves capable.

[WallyWorld]

I'm putting the over/under line on Trout's SB total at 25.  I'll take the under.

[tdawg87]

If Pujols is hitting this can only be good for Trout.

[Hollyw00d]

Unfortunately this will only enhance pujols GIDP stats

[CaliAngel]

Trout should lead off IMO.

 

Why search or wait for a lead off hitter to emerge when we already have one?

 

All I see this as is another opportunity for the fat man to try Aybar (UGH) or worse in the 1 slot.

 

The #2 batter will be protected by Pujols. Trout doesn't need any protection.

[Hollyw00d]

Dude don't worry, aybar is a lock

[HaloMagic]

Cool. Hit Pujols 9th and have Trout leadoff. Problem solved.

[notherhalo]

Pujols will not like the fact that teams are going to IBB Trout a lot this season to get to him

[Stradling]

It's so crazy that we have a thread where almost every single person expects the Angels to win more than 84 games then you come into this one and almost everyone is complaining about the potential line up. I am perfectly fine with Calhoun leading off and Trout batting second with Pujols hitting behind him.

[Chuck]

Calhoun will leadoff.

[tdawg87]

It's so crazy that we have a thread where almost every single person expects the Angels to win more than 84 games then you come into this one and almost everyone is complaining about the potential line up. I am perfectly fine with Calhoun leading off and Trout batting second with Pujols hitting behind him.

 

Yeah I don't see what the big deal is. We all expected Trout to slowly transition down the batting order. Calhoun could end up being a great leadoff candidate.

[Stradling]

I do like the idea of L-R-L-R type lineup, but having Trout and Pujols back to back in the lineup is perfectly fine, especially if Albert is hitting.

[Blarg]

I'd like to see Hamilton bat third against righties if he proves capable.

So you are all for platoon splits. That should help make AO's head explode.

[jshep]

I'm fine with Calhoun-Trout-Pujols at the top.

 

That said, I'll believe Aybar isn't going to get his 38th chance at leading off when I see it.

[YouthofToday]

Absolutely stupid in my opinion.

Sciosica always likes to go R-L-R-L if he can, but he's putting the Angels two best right handed hitters next to one another. And Pujols will not be sacrificing to get Trout from 2nd to 3rd, ever.

Calhoun should be the #2 hitter.

Trout should bat 1st or 3rd.

Not as stupid as advocating for intentionally giving away an out via the sacrifice. Outs are a precious thing. You only get 3 per inning.

I strongly agree with Trout batting 2, Albert Pujols batting 3 and Hamilton batting 4. Let's hope Calhoun can maintain an OBP above .350. Aybar certainly cannot.

If Calhoun can maintain a high OBP our offense is going to be too legit to quit.

[Hollyw00d]

Calhoun will leadoff.

LOL!

do you know who our manager is?

[Halos of Anaheim]

If Calhoun leads off, I'm fine with it. If Aybar gets his quadruplet chance at leading off for the first month and costs our offense a fast start to the season again, well..I wouldn't know what to say anymore.

[bloodbrother]

Calhoun

Trout

Pujols

Hamilton

 

is the ideal 1-4 if everything is going right, so I'm happy to hear this news. I'll say this though, Trout needs to be given the green light to run more, regardless of whether Pujols likes it or not. It's just dumb to waste Trout's speed. He's got the wheels, you have chances to stay out of a double play...let him run

[Hubs]

If Calhoun was a leadoff hitter traditionally, he'd have hit in that spot in the minors. Instead, he hits more often as the #2 or #3 batter. I'd slot them all where they'll do the best and have done the best in their careers.

 

Trout is slightly better as the #2 batter as he is at #1 or #3, but it's a small sample.

 

Pujols has hit almost exclusively as the #3 batter. 

 

Hamilton has hit more as the #3 batter, but does really well at #5, though that has to do mostly with his amazing 2010 season. Hitting 4th is not something he typically does well, last season being the vast majority of the time.

 

Ibanez is a 3-6 hitter, but has his best stats as the #4 batter.

 

Freese has his best stats hitting 5-6. 

 

Kendrick is best hitting 6-7-8.

 

Iannetta is best hitting 7-8-9. Conger is a 7-8 guy.

 

Aybar has roughly one season's worth of AB's hitting 1st, 2nd, 7th, 8th, and 9th. Best stats as the #2 batter. The other four are all roughly equivalent.

 

Green and Calhoun don't have enough experience in the majors for a conclusive sample. Calhoun is usually a #2 or #3 batter in the minors. I don't really want to look at Sacramento River Cats game lineups so, I'm not sure about Green.

 

Shuck is similar to the above, and really shouldn't hit leadoff unless he can walk more. And as a lefty with a primary lefty DH, and two lefty OF, I don't see where he gets into a lot of games. 

 

The Angels have really switched from leaning so far right handed (Pujols, Trout, Trumbo, Bourjos, Wells, Hunter, Kendrick, Iannetta/Wilson in 2012) to a team with only five every day right handed hitters. They didn't have a regular lefty in the lineup in 2012, though they did have three switch hitters in Morales, Callaspo, and Aybar. Now, they have three regular lefties and one switch hitter slotted for everyday duty. The opportunities for a lefty outfield bat with shaky defense are limited at best. 

 

If they are insistent on having Trout be the #2 hitter before Pujols, the lineup will usually look like this:

 

Calhoun

Trout

Pujols

Hamilton

Freese

Ibanez

Kendrick

Ianetta

Aybar

 

Against left handed pitchers you could see Green or Cowgill in for Ibanez. Or Cron I suppose.

[mrwicked]

why does R-L-R-L matter?

im genuinely curious.

 

is it because a pitcher might be killer against righties, so R-R is more likely to be two outs vs R-L?

in which case, assuming statistically equal likelihood of pitchers being awesome vs Rs and pitchers being not-awesome vs Rs (and vice versa for Ls), wouldn't same R-R be more liley to be two hits vs R-L when facing a pitcher that is non-awesome against righties?

 

Or is there some other generally accepted reason?

Or is it just scioscia loves the balance/symmetry with no logical rationalization?

Edited February 14, 2014 by mrwicked

[Lou]

Calhoun will leadoff.

 

LOL!

do you know who our manager is?

 

yes, he does