Comments on: The Rare Designated Two Hitter

By: DoubleDiamond

DoubleDiamond — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:08:43 +0000

One more thing regarding my search for the 9th spot - I thought I remembered Ken Phelps hitting 9th as a DH. But he didn't show up on this list at all.

Also Johnson's 26 in 2002 was the only one of at least 20.

I'm going to try 8th next. Some teams followed a practice in the late 1970s or early 1980s of putting a strong hitter in #9, for when the batting order turned over. In fact, Tony LaRussa has been doing this with the Cardinals, batting the pitcher 7th or 8th and (and Pujols 3rd) in recent years. So I actually expected more DH activity at #9 than I did find. And thus I'll expect even less at #8.

By: DoubleDiamond

DoubleDiamond — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:04:15 +0000

I tried this out for 9th (it took me awhile since I'm new at this), and Nick Johnson in his first tour of duty with the Yankees is the leader in this spot! 26 times in 2002.

Looking at his game log, on 5/14/2002, he switched to first base during a game in Yankee Stadium against Tampa Bay. Pitcher Ramiro Medoza went into the clean-up spot that was vacated by Jason Giambi. But these were garbage time substitutions in a situation in which it was highly unlikely that the Yankee pitcher would have to bat. The Bombers had scored 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th to go ahead 10-1. Giambi had made the third out. Although the Devil Rays did score twice in the top of the 9th, they didn't score enough to force the Yankees to have to bat again.

By: eorns

eorns — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:42:36 +0000

Oops...I meant 1991, not 1989.

By: eorns

eorns — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:41:22 +0000

It's a similar list, numberswise, for DHs batting leadoff. Paul Molitor and Brian Downing own 7 of the top 10 spots! Each has their greatest number (109 and 89, respectively) in 1989.

By: DK

DK — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:37:36 +0000

No way in hell does Nick Johnson stay healthy enough to even PLAY 120 games let alone DH in the 2-spot for that many.

By: Andy

Andy — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:43:31 +0000

It's staggering to think that teams use more than 100 different lineups in a 162-game season.

Check it out for the 2009 Yankees:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/2009-batting-orders.shtml

No lineup was used more than 15 times and they used 106 total batting orders not counting differences among pitchers. (I assume this refers to games in NL stadiums where the pitcher is in the batting order.)

The Red Sox used 113 different batting orders and none more than 8 times!

I suspect that the average baseball fan, if asked how many times his or her favorite team used their most common lineup, would guess something more like 40-60 times in a season...amazing just how wrong we would be.

By: Raphy

Raphy — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:35:26 +0000

4. Darrel Says: (I wonder how many of those were driven in by George Brett who hit in the #3 hole.)

Not many. Brett only played 139 games in 1977 and only 51 of those were from the 3 hole.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?n1=brettge01&year=1977&t=b#lineu

In fact, among Brett's 88 RBI that season, the term "McRae Scores" appears only 8 times.

By: Darrel

Darrel — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:04:36 +0000

McRae was a dh in 115 games that year, so he was not in the #2 hole for 13 of them as a dh. He scored 104 runs (I wonder how many of those were driven in by George Brett who hit in the #3 hole.)

By: Johnny Twisto

Johnny Twisto — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:29:34 +0000

Oh, and of course, Randolph himself only barely cracked 100 appearances in the 2-hole one time, and that before I was aware, even though it seems liked he always batted 2nd for the Yanks.

By: Johnny Twisto

Johnny Twisto — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 21:27:17 +0000

I'd consider McRae full-time. Lineups shift around more than we (I) realize -- teams all seem to use more than 100 different lineups a season. I'd bet the #2 spot is less stable than 1, 3, or 4 usually are. How common is it for any individual to have 100 games batting second in a season? I'm sure a few guys do it every year, but is the list above that unusual?

I checked for AL second basemen since '73. I grew up with Willie Randolph and that seems like a position which might more commonly bat 2nd. A 2Bman has only batted second 100+ times in 37 seasons, so about once a year. Certainly much more common than DH, but not that common. (Aaron Hill last year actually has the high during that time frame, with 155 such games.)