AL Lineup Analysis (4/12/19)

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April 12, 2019

Angels

  • Kole Calhoun goes from leading off against righties to the seven spot against lefties.
  • Zack Cozart, David Fletcher, and Taylor Ward are in a three-way battle for the third base job. For now, I’d bet on Fletcher (.303/.324/.333) since Ward has just three plate appearances and Cozart has just one hit (32 PA).

Astros

  • They have used the same lineup all season with the only changes being someone cycling through the DH to get a break.

Athletics

  • They are using a versus lefty and righty lineup. They just move the names around with Kendrys Morales (vs RHP) and Mark Canha (vs LHP) in the only true platoon.
  • Robbie Grossman sits against lefties but his replacement changes each time.

Blue Jays

  • Has Joe Maddon’s evil twin taken over Toronto’s lineups? There is nothing set regular lineup spots.
  • While they move around, the regulars look to be Randal Grichuk. Maybe Billy McKinney and Teoscar Hernandez.
  • Rowdy Tellez has sat against all three lefty starters.
  • Over the last four games, Freddy Galvis (.229/.302/.396) has hit first or second. His 43% StatCast Hard Hit% ranks 115 of 329.

Indians

  • It’s about set in stone. The only change is that Luplow replaces Naquin against lefties and bats third.
  • Brad Miller (.231/.333/.423) and Max Moroff (.091/.091/.136) are rotating in at second base.

Mariners

  • The Daniel Vogelbach train is just taking off and he’s cemented himself into the lineup’s fifth spot as the DH.
  • The ripple down effect has moved Edwin Encarnacion to first and Jay Bruce to the outfield. over the last four games, one of Bruce, Mallex Smith, Mitch Haniger, or Domingo Santana have sat. It’s not an easy choice for who should sit. Smith is the only “center fielder” and the other three are off to hot starts (Santana: 1.010 OPS, Bruce: .972, Haniger: .864). I wonder if at some point Encarnacion and Vogelbach join the rotation with each one getting one off day a week.

Orioles

Rangers

Rays

Red Sox

Royals

Tigers

  • No changes with this lineup.
  • JaCoby Jones returned from the IL yesterday and batted ninth.
  • Josh Harrison is still leading off, but since he’s hitting just .146/.241/.167. I could see him move down if someone else heats up.

Twins

  • The lineup has been set from day one with just some changes since they’ve been in NL parks for the last five games.
  • Willians Astudillo is forcing the Twins hand right now by hitting (.348/.385/.609). He’s started the last two games at first and third. He might steal time from C.J. Cron (.241/.267/.310) and Marwin Gonzalez (.154/.241/.192) who are both off to slow starts.

White Sox

Yankees

  • It’s tough to know their current versus lefty starter lineup with only one game against a lefty so far this season.
  • In deeper leagues, Giovanny Urshela might be worth an add since he’s started three of the last four games at third base.
  • With all the injuries the Yankees have dealt with, Gleyber Torres is now batting 4th or 5th instead of 7th or 8th.
  • Greg Bird has started in six of the nine games since Giancarlo Stanton went on the IL.





 

Jeff, one of the authors of the fantasy baseball guide,The Process, writes for RotoGraphs, The Hardball Times, Rotowire, Baseball America, and BaseballHQ. He has been nominated for two SABR Analytics Research Award for Contemporary Analysis and won it in 2013 in tandem with Bill Petti. He has won four FSWA Awards including on for his Mining the News series. He's won Tout Wars three times, LABR twice, and got his first NFBC Main Event win in 2021. Follow him on Twitter @jeffwzimmerman.

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bartonrp
5 years ago

Schwindel has been sent down, so will O’Hearn now get to start against lefties? I wonder what the plan is.

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