What makes a good batting order

Because we care, BtB would like to remind everyone that lineups are pretty overrated. Believe it or not, the difference between an optimized lineup and a typical, mildly foolish one you'll see MLB teams use is only about one win over games. It's obviously worth getting right, but not any more than realizing Troy Percival shouldn't be your closer or Joba Chamberlain belongs in the rotation.

That being said, in order to put the best lineup together possible, there are some tips to follow, as Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman, and Andy Dolphin showed via extensive research in their book, The Book. By lineup position The old-school book says to put a speedy guy up top.

Power isn't important, and OBP is nice, but comes second to speed. The Book says OBP is king. The lead-off hitter also comes to the plate the most times per game, so why give away outs?

As for speed, stealing bases is most valuable in front of singles hitters, and since the top of the order is going to be full of power hitters, they're not as important. The lead-off hitter is one of the best three hitters on the team, the guy without homerun power.

Speed is nice, as this batter will have plenty of chances to run the bases with good hitters behind him. The old-school book says to put a bat-control guy here. Not a great hitter, but someone who can move the lead-off hitter over for one of the next two hitters to drive in. The Books says the 2 hitter comes to bat in situations about as important as the 3 hitter, but more often.

That means the 2 hitter should be better than the 3 guy, and one of the best three hitters overall. And since he bats with the bases empty more often than the hitters behind him, he should be a high-OBP player.

Doesn't sound like someone who should be sacrificing, does it? The old-school book says to put your best high-average hitter here. The lead-off hitter should already be in scoring position and a hit drives him in. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am. The Book says the 3 hitter comes to the plate with, on average, fewer runners on base than the 4 or 5 hitters.

So why focus on putting a guy who can knock in runs in the 3 spot, when the two spots after him can benefit from it more? Even though he struggled, he still had the ability to provide a spark at any time even though he was batting near the bottom of the order. Batting 9th…. This is mostly known as the pitcher's spot in the lineup. To be an ideal ninth hitter, you need to be effective sacrifice specialist a lot like the second hitter.

Most pitchers and position players that bat ninth tend to bunt frequently to either advance runners to just get a hit. Now it's your turn, we want to hear from you. Which spot in lineup are you in? Which spot is the best to hit from? We apologize for the inconvenience, but something went wrong with this page. You can try reloading the page by clicking here. Thanks for signing up and welcome to the team! Skip to main content Stop all automatic animation Skip to footer site map.

Home Blog Lists. Batting 1st… Sets the tone. Batting 2nd… Keeps momentum going. Batting 4th… Powerfully cleans the bases. Batting 5th… Destiny's location. Batting 6th… The second leadoff hitter. Batting 7th… Defensive specialist and sacrificial lamb. Batting 8th… Provides spark. Batting 9th… The pitcher's spot. You can compare a maximum of four items. Please remove one item to add another. The 1 and 2 slots will have players with more walks than those in the 4 and 5 slots. From slot 6 through 9, put the players in descending order of quality.

Perhaps the most important thing The Book tells us is that we should put our stereotypes of leadoff and 2 hitters aside. First, the guys in the first two slots bat most often during the year; why waste those appearances on below- average hitters, or even average ones?

You can put your pitcher in the eighth slot and gain a couple of extra runs per year. Again, for the full analysis of building a batting order according to statistical analysis check out this fine article.

Either way, I feel this will put to rest the theory of batting through the lineup with strong and weak batters interspersed. One way or the other the most runs are created at the top of the order where the batters come up more often. So you will be better served with a feast or famine order rather than some activity every inning but no runs getting knocked in.

Here's my response: The batting order is always determined by your talent and your coaching philosophy, but generally through the years and if you were gifted with perfect talent in all of these spots, this is how it would look.