Lineup Analysis (5/8/18)
My focus is on lineup position and the amount of regular play each hitter get. I’m not concentrating on positions played. Also, if a team isn’t listed, I didn’t find any new information.
Note: I highlighted what I consider to be the seven most important findings.
Angels
- Zack Cozart’s value is taking a major hit as he’s been drawing the short straw when Shohei Ohtani DH’s.
Astros
- Evan Gattis owners may need to start looking for a replacement as his struggles with the bat (.187/.260/.275) has led to him starting three times in the last 10 games.
Athletics
- Marcus Semien leads off against lefties and Matt Joyce against righties.
Braves
- For about a week the lineup has been steady with Ozzie Albies leading off, Ronald Acuna batting 2nd, and Ender Inciarte hitting 9th. Inciarte is not running as much as he has just one steal in the seven games since the move. He had 12 in the 25 games when he led off.
- Jose Bautista has hit fifth or sixth since joining the team.
Brewers
- A healthy Jonathan Villar has not played in three straight games with Eric Sogard getting the call instead.
Blue Jays
- It’s tough to tell exactly the lineups with Justin Smoak, Kendrys Morales, and Josh Donaldson returning within the past week and Curtis Granderson is nursing an injury.
- Steve Pearce is only used against lefties.
- Luke Maile is a hitting great for a catcher .294/.379/.373 and might be an option in deep leagues.
Cardinals
- The lineup has been in flux over the last couple games with the Yadier Molina and Tommy Pham injuries. It’s really tough to know how the lineup will look going forward.
- In a two-game sample Molina went down, Jedd Gyorko has hit 5th.
Cubs
- What a disaster to find any consistency. I’m not even going to try.
- Against lefties, Albert Almora Jr. leads off and Kyle Schwarber sits.
Diamondbacks
- Since Steven Souza Jr. has returned, he’s batting fifth with Jarrod Dyson and Chris Owings heading to the bench.
Dodgers
- This lineup has been a mess with all the team’s injuries. Expect some major changes once some of the walking wounded return.
- Matt Kemp is batting third (vs. lefties) or fifth (vs. righties).
- Alex Verdugo is batting 2nd (vs righties) and 7th (vs lefties).
- Someone named Tim Locastro is playing against lefties.
Giants
- Since April’s last week, the lineup looks to be set by a random number generator.
Indians
- Tyler Naquin (vs. righties) and Brandon Guyer (vs. lefties) are in a platoon.
- I completely missed on the Greg Allen promotion on Sunday because of the Bradley Zimmer’s injury. Allen could be a stolen base source but has had problems hitting at the MLB level.
Marlins
- Since Martin Prado returned about a week ago, the top five in the lineup has stabilized to the following:
Mets
- Excluding the pitcher, the Mets have used the same lineup only three times this season. There is almost no conformity to it.
- Adrian Gonzalez is still sitting against left-handed pitching when Wilmer Flores starts.
Nationals
- Because of injuries and the emergence of Matt Adams, the lineup has been in flux. Since Anthony Rendon has returned, he’s hit third with Adams hitting fourth.
- Ryan Zimmerman has only started twice in the last six games.
- The fifth to seventh spots seem to be drawn from a hat nightly.
- Wilmer Difo is consistently batting ninth with the pitcher hitting eighth.
Orioles
- Recent changes with Mark Trumbo’s return to the 5th spot. Pedro Alvarez is playing some third base with Danny Valencia sitting more.
- Chris Davis is back to hitting 4th for the last three games.
Padres
- Travis Jankowski, who stole 30 base in 2016, is leading off.
Phillies
- Carlos Santana, Aaron Altherr, and Rhys Hoskins have rotated lineup spots with Hoskins batting second, Altherr fourth, and Santana fifth.
Rangers
- Isiah Kiner-Falefa bats 3rd against lefties and Jurickson Profar does against righties.
- It’ll be interesting to see how the infield shakes out once Rougned Odor and Elvis Andrus return.
Rays
- Adeiny Hechavarria has been leading off against lefties
- Matt Duffy has replaced Carlos Gomez as the number three hitter.
- The cleanup spot changes with Wilson Ramos hitting fourth against lefties and Brad Miller in the same spot against righties. Miller sits against lefties.
- Joey Wendle sits against lefties and Rob Refsnyder fills in with several players moving spots.
- The only consistent lineup spot is C.J. Cron batting 2nd.
Rockies
- Since DJ LeMahieu went on the DL and Carlos Gonzalez returned, David Dahl is sitting against lefties but hits near the top against righties.
- Ian Desmond bats in one of the top two spots against lefties.
Royals
- Since his resurgence, Jorge Soler is batting second which has pushed Whit Merrifield to the leadoff spot and Jon Jay to the back of the lineup.
Twins
- Joe Mauer and Brian Dozier have swapped spots with the top two spots.
- Max Kepler is hitting third with Miguel Sano out.
White Sox
- Tim Anderson leads off against lefties.
- Leury Garcia is hitting leadoff against righties with Yoan Moncada out.
Yankees
- Aaron Hicks leads off against lefties and Brett Gardner leads off against righties.
- Miguel Andujar and Gleyber Torres are playing every day but have been regulated to the bottom four spots.
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.
“Excluding the pitcher, the Mets have used the same lineup only three times this season. There is almost no conformity to it.”
But there’s a LOT of Confortomity to it.