Atlanta Braves News

Buzzbomb

Buzzbomb

Mello Yellow-Jacket
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12,014
Southpawmac said:
He's hitting 8th because it gives you a guy that can drive in runs before the pitcher. You either force to other team to pitch around him and clear the pitchers spot for the next inning, or you allow him to hit with speedy runners (Joyce and Hecevarria) on base. If Joyce is 8th, you aren't scared to throw to him and likely have the pitcher leading off the next inning which starts that inning with an out.
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So the sixth spot that Austin Riley hit in through most of his 17 HR’s, 45 RBI’s, isn’t as valuable as 8th(where you don’t see as many good pitches, like 2-seam/4-seam fastballs)? You might get an extra AB per game. Show me one team today that has a premier hitter in the 8th spot?
 
Southpawmac

Southpawmac

Helluva Engineer
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1,111
Buzzbomb said:
So the sixth spot that Austin Riley hit in through most of his 17 HR’s, 45 RBI’s, isn’t as valuable as 8th(where you don’t see as many good pitches, like 2-seam/4-seam fastballs)? You might get an extra AB per game. Show me one team today that has a premier hitter in the 8th spot?
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The lineup was vastly different earlier in the year. When Riley was batting 6th, we had Ozzie batting 8th. We didn’t have any holes in our lineup, unless Flowers was catching, at that point and everyone was an RBI threat. Joyce and Hechevarria aren’t RBI threats. They get on base by slap singles and walks and putting them 7th and 8th leaves three non threats at the backend of the lineup.
 
Buzzbomb

Buzzbomb

Mello Yellow-Jacket
Messages
12,014
Ozzie never hit 8th. He’s hit 6th, 7th and 2nd. We’ve had Flowers down there, Riley when he slumped, Inciarte.
I can’t remember any teams with an 8th hitter over .250, unless they had their pitcher there.
 
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