Jump to content
  • Welcome to AngelsWin.com

    AngelsWin.com - THE Internet Home for Angels fans! Unraveling Angels Baseball ... One Thread at a Time.

    Register today to join the most interactive online Angels community on the net!

    Once you're a member you'll see less advertisements. Become a Premium member and you won't see any ads! 

     

IGNORED

Why Trout is batting second


Recommended Posts

Trout batting leadoff is a stupid idea.  He needs to be hitting 2nd, right in front of Albert.  Having Trout on base is bothersome for pitchers, the best way to capitalize on that is to put Albert or Josh in those situations.  Having Trout leadoff and putting someone like Aybar behind him only screws it up because if Trout gets on with 2 outs, you still have another batter to get to Pujols.  With Aybars low OBP its a complete waste. 

 

Trout on base with Pujols or Josh up means less pitch outs, more fastballs, and more strikes.  Thats exactly what you would want for your 3-4 hitters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You saw it there today.  Trout on base and hamilton gets fastballs.  I would say that putting Josh in the 2 spot would work as well, but I think MS like him 'protecting' Pujols.  Some say protection is a myth but who knows.

 

During the brief interval between the Hamilton signing and the Morales trade, I really wanted to see this lineup:

 

Trout

Hamilton

Pujols

Morales

Trumbo

Kendrick

Callaspo

Iannetta

Aybar

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like the three of them in succession because it keeps pressure on a pitcher not to make a mistake. I think it works best the way it is now because it seems Albert is taking more pitches and seems more willing to walk with Hamilton behind him. When Callaspo gets back I'd have him lead off but for now there's no reason to change anything.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I really wouldn't mind giving Shuck a shot at lead off and trade Bourjos for a SP. Shuck has always had a high .OBP (Career .380) throughout the minors and in limited time at the MLB level. He's doesnt have any pop, but a .280-.300 AVG & .360+ OBP is very obtainable for Shuck. Also, he's only 25 years old

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also, Bourn's contract was incredibly reasonable.

I don't know about incredibly reasonable, I would prefer not to give a long term deal to a guy that relies solely on speed for his skill set.  If he had a little pop I wouldn't have an issue with it.  With how late he signed I thought there was a chance we could have seen him sign a one year deal at a decent price, but that didn't happen.  Oh, and yes the assumption would have been to sign him and trade Peter.  The good news is if we decide we need an upgrade over Peter we can trade for a left fielder with pop (someone like Josh Willingham) and just move Trout back to CF. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know about incredibly reasonable, I would prefer not to give a long term deal to a guy that relies solely on speed for his skill set.  If he had a little pop I wouldn't have an issue with it.  With how late he signed I thought there was a chance we could have seen him sign a one year deal at a decent price, but that didn't happen.  Oh, and yes the assumption would have been to sign him and trade Peter.  The good news is if we decide we need an upgrade over Peter we can trade for a left fielder with pop (someone like Josh Willingham) and just move Trout back to CF. 

or any bat for that matter.  Trumbo is not a good OFer, but could play LF if necessary.  Or, conger DH's vs. righties and Trumbo plays the OF.  Or you give Lucho more abs.  Point being that if the young guys like Shuck, Conger, Lucho, continue to perform then there are more options when Callapso and Aybar come back. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know about incredibly reasonable, I would prefer not to give a long term deal to a guy that relies solely on speed for his skill set.  If he had a little pop I wouldn't have an issue with it.  With how late he signed I thought there was a chance we could have seen him sign a one year deal at a decent price, but that didn't happen.  Oh, and yes the assumption would have been to sign him and trade Peter.  The good news is if we decide we need an upgrade over Peter we can trade for a left fielder with pop (someone like Josh Willingham) and just move Trout back to CF. 

Did you just say Bourn doesn't have a little pop in his bat?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think this is being rather generous about the effects of Trout batting 2nd.

 

The guys batting ahead and behind of Hamilton haven't changed at all(and it's really iffy if even those guys have a noticeable impact on Hamilton).

 

Hamilton has faced worse pitchers than he was before though, and he's also pretty good at baseball when he's going good.

 

Meanwhile, Trout has yet to bat in a runner besides himself since moving to the 2 hole, because Angels leadoff hitters are 1 for 15 since the move(that one hit being Shuck's double from last night), and Aybar's career .320 OBP isn't going to change that.

 

So basically this just gets a rotation of guys with lackluster or worse base tendencies more ABs instead of the best leadoff hitter in the game, just for the sake of grouping the big names together. (And honestly, if you absolutely feel like you NEED to group them together, move someone up, not Trout out of the leadoff spot)

 

Yay?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...