Freese to Hit 4th vs LHSP

[YouthofToday]

Suddenly this organization is bursting with competence. Great news.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140320&content_id=69728722&notebook_id=69750432&vkey=notebook_ana&c_id=ana

[Homebrewer]

Wha?

Wait...this makes too much sense.

Don Baylor's influence showing itself in ST.

I like it.

[arch stanton]

It probably means Freese will walk a ton against lefties and Hamilton will still be counted on to get runners home. Hopefully he handles it a little better this year.

[bloodbrother]

Now matter how bad Freese sucks he will be better than Hamilton against LHP.

 

Exactly. Hamilton is an automatic out vs LHP

 

Good to hear he'll be moved down, though I expect him to still hit 5th. He should probably hit 7th with how worthless he is vs LHP.

[Angels_Make_Me_Drink]

Lol at the thought of having a $25 million dollar situational hitter. Good Lord...that is sad.

[bloodbrother]

Well....his OPS was at Jeff Mathis levels last yr vs LHP

[YouthofToday]

Shuck did better against LH pitching than RH pitching. I highly doubt this reverse platoon split continues in his career.

[Fontana Halo]

It would make the most sense to bat him cleanup in general. It's almost impossible to be less productive than Josh Hamilton versus righties or lefties...

[Inside Pitch]

Lol at the thought of having a $25 million dollar situational hitter. Good Lord...that is sad.

 

Yeah, they are paying him 25 mil..  Should they stop trying to put the team into the best position to win games to avoid looking "sad"?  

 

The fact that the team is looking to maximize production everywhere in the lineup should be met with excitement and praise, not seen as an opportunity to mock them for past mistakes.   Like it or not we are stuck with Hamilton, if they have to bat him 8th to try to win games Vs lefties then so be it -- it's a welcomed departure from what we have seen in the past.

 

BTW, the Rangers signed a guy with a career .680 OPS Vs. LHP to a 130 million dollar deal.  Big money contracts to "situational hitters" must be the new thing.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Inside Pitch

[Blarg]

Good to see roles are being established by need and not years of service.

[Chuck]

Exactly. Hamilton is an automatic out vs LHP

 

Good to hear he'll be moved down, though I expect him to still hit 5th. He should probably hit 7th with how worthless he is vs LHP.

 

Hamilton can hit lefties and hit them well, with tremendous power. If he's "right" he'll be OK against southpaws. Last season he clearly was not right. 

[Homebrewer]

It's a small sample I know, but he still isn't "right".

Only took about 10 ABs for Baylor to know it, and act, er... suggest  accordingly.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Homebrewer

[jshep]

It's a small sample I know, but he still isn't "right".

Only took about 10 ABs for Baylor to know it, and act, er... suggest accordingly.

I seriously doubt the handful of ABs Josh has had this spring had anything to do with this decision

[Brent Maguire]

This is great news. I might even prefer to see Howie move ahead of Hamilton too and have him bat 5th.

[Angel Oracle]

Good to see roles are being established by need and not years of service.

Exactly, and then if he starts hitting LHP's again like he used to, he will hit higher in the order against them. 

 

I increasingly am liking the decisions this org has been making in preparation for this season, aside from not adding enough starting pitching depth.

[SoWhat]

It's a small sample I know, but he still isn't "right".

Only took about 10 ABs for Baylor to know it, and act, er... suggest accordingly.

People were saying the same thing about Albert after the first week and look at him now. Give Hamilton more than 9 AB's before writing him off

[ukyah]

i think hamilton is going to have a bounce back season. i'm not saying his mvp year, but he'll be much better, imo.

[markb]

I don't think it's wise to use his splits from last year as he was not right in general, but his career splits still show a pretty significant gap (.772 OPS vs LHP and .933 vs RHP).  Not bad by any means, but he's clearly vulnerable to the traditional lefty-lefty matchup even when he's good.  For comparison, Freese's career OPS is .762 vs RHP and .843 vs LHP.  

[HaloFan85]

It probably means Freese will walk a ton against lefties and Hamilton will still be counted on to get runners home. Hopefully he handles it a little better this year.

If you look at his line with RISP from last year (.238/.346/.338), you're probably correct.  The only starter who couldn't seem to get a hit with RISP for the Cards last year.  About the only thing he did was walk.

 

Jon Jay was the 2nd worst starter with RISP with a line of only .297/.400/.428.  lol

[arch stanton]

If you look at his line with RISP from last year (.238/.346/.338), you're probably correct.  The only starter who couldn't seem to get a hit with RISP for the Cards last year.  About the only thing he did was walk.

 

Jon Jay was the 2nd worst starter with RISP with a line of only .297/.400/.428.  lol

My point was that a lefty isn't going to throw Freese anything to hit with Hamilton coming up behind him. At least not until Josh makes them pay.

[Season Over]

If you look at his line with RISP from last year (.238/.346/.338), you're probably correct. The only starter who couldn't seem to get a hit with RISP for the Cards last year. About the only thing he did was walk.

Jon Jay was the 2nd worst starter with RISP with a line of only .297/.400/.428. lol

I'd say a team doing that well with RISP is unsustainable, but this is Cardinal Devil Magic we're talking about.