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COUNTERPOINT: Wright Should Bat Third!
Earlier today, Don Kachuba posted his opinion, which stated that David Wright should bat clean-up (4th), in order to protect Carlos Beltran in the line-up, with Carlos Delgado protecting Wright in the line-up.Don, with all due respects, we must disagree- we believe that Wright should bat right where he ended last season, 3rd in the order! Wright is a hitting threat in 2 ways- he drives in runs via power, but also via a high batting average based off of heavy amounts of singles and doubles. With Castillo and Reyes ahead of him in the line-up, RBI opportunities increase exponentially. However, even without either one on the bases, Wright himself is not only a threat to get on the basepaths, but is also a threat to steal as he's a great baserunner and heads-up ballplayer. Beltran tends to hit anywhere from 25 to 50 points lower than Wright, but is a great RBI man, especially when he goes on one of his streaks. Wright however makes more happen on the bases, gets on more and knocks in as many or more runs then Beltran does.
All in all, to us, it makes far more sense to have your best hitter batting third, and David Wright is exactly that, our best hitter! The '86 Mets line-up worked so well for many reasons, chief of which was having Mex (Keith Hernandez) batting third, day-in, day-out, regardless of whether Teufel and Dykstra were starting or Backman and Wilson ahead of him in the line-up. Mex was the guaranteed heart of the line-up, where Strawberry and company were the big boppers behind him. In Wright, we have the chance to even surpass Mex's stats from the third-hole in the order, and whether or not Beltran, Delgado, Alou or Church is behind him, he will find a way to either get on base himself or knock in those already on- not to mention the fact that he will end up with at least 40 more at-bats per season (if not more)!
Our verdict- WRIGHT BATS THIRD!!!!
Readers- you've seen both sides of the argument- what do YOU think???
Readers- you've seen both sides of the argument- what do YOU think???
3 comments:
I think putting Wright in the 4 hole would get him thinking differently. He'll start getting that upper cut in his swing again as he tries to do too much with the ball. And who can say that the reason Wright is doing so well isn't because he has some big boppers behind him?
i just feel that people getting into laws and rules limits thought and pigeon-holes people while limiting ideas. i appreciate counterpoints and criticism; that’s what fan BSing is all about.
But how many more AB’s per game will Wright get batting 4th as opposed to third? I don’t imagine much. I just see the best hitter on the team with all the speed n front of him, making for the max RBI potential. Guys will pitch around Wright to get to Beltran, who is going to be about .030 points, or more, less likely to come through with a hit.
oh and regarding power. i say wright hits 33 HR this year and Beltran, if healthy enough to get out there for 150+ games, hits 37. I don’t see such a close homerun deferential as enough of a factor to overwhelm my perspective regarding average.
With Reyes, Castillo, and Beltran ahead of him. You have your best chance of getting your best hitter to the plate with a runner on.
If Wright keeps his same approach that would be key. Why is their a rule saying the 4 hitter has to blast homeruns only? Situational hitting exist at any point. Would he necessarily start upper-cutting if he kept his approach in mind?
I think both make valid points. I would like to point out that Delgado isn't gone yet. He still had a lot of rbi's last season. His average might have dropped significantly but that could be due to many things. He can bounce back...we hope. Even if not, Wright batting third looks like the best option. I think 4th would be interesting to see him in, but with Beltran coming up clean up with 3 great average hitters ahead of him, he will be able to do more damage with homers. Wright will be able to drive people in with doubles from the 3 hole, while Beltran can homer them home. This is all ideal obviously, but look at the other situation, Reyes and Castillo get on, Beltran comes up and homers, then Wright comes up and doubles. That is 3 runs. Well with Wright batting 3rd, there is a possibility of four runs, since Beltran will close with a homer. This is all ideal of course, but when u look at the season as a whole, this will generate more runs with Wright batting third.
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