I think one of the interesting questions entering into this season is how Dusty Baker will set up the Reds batting order. I really don’t envy him this task, since I believe it will be difficult. Given our expected starting lineup, we really don’t have anyone who fits nicely into the top two positions and most of our best hitters are LH. Below is the best lineup possible as calculated by the Baseball Musings Lineup Analysis tool when fed the Baseball Prospectus Pecota projections for the upcoming season.
Best Reds Lineup 5.043 Runs Per Game Name OBA SLG Votto .357 .494 Dunn .388 .549 Griffey .350 .480 Encarnacion .356 .493 Bruce .336 .512 Phillips .325 .444 Gonzalez .315 .424 Ross .310 .448 Pitcher .177 .188
That’s food for thought. Below is how I’d line them up.
My Reds Lineup 5.011 Runs Per Game Name OBA SLG Encarnacion .356 .493 Votto .357 .494 Dunn .388 .549 Griffey .350 .480 Bruce .336 .512 Phillips .325 .444 Ross .310 .448 Gonzalez .315 .424 Pitcher .177 .188
It’s not going easy, we have some good hitters, they just don’t line up with the traditional roles for the positions in the batting order. So what do you think? How would you set the batting order given the eight players listed above?