Happy Monday, Degenerates! The boys are 5-2 after a much needed sweep of Maryland.
Let’s have some fun. After 2 weeks of play, what would be your ideal batting order? Figured this would be a great way to get some discussions going. GEAUX CAJUNS
Got to think if Galt hit .277 last year, he can go +.285 this year. I think he needs to be in the lineup somewhere. Torres is a career .288 hitter at UL. Both those bats should be able to improve our lineup. I like what I’ve seen in Hebert’s and Bellard’s at bats just haven’t produced numbers wise yet. LaSalle maybe has most upside but started rough, maybe it was the wrist. Collins’ ABs in my opinion have looked very nice as well.
If Lasalle isn’t healthy, I would put Mandino in RF and give Galt a chance in LF. Galt needs more of an opportunity. Rigo also needs to be out of the 8 hole immediately. That dude needs to be in a run producing spot in the order.
Unpopular opinion, I don’t understand why most people want BRod in the 3 hole. He doesn’t hit for power, but he’s a base hit machine with speed. He’s an obvious lead off for me, 2 hole at worst.
In my lineup, I want my 2 best hitters hitting 2nd and 3rd. I really like my best hitter in the 2 hole. I agree, I would ideally want someone with more pop in the 3rd hole. But who would that be? No one on our team fits that category right now.
So here was my thought process when putting together the lineup. Brown is a doubles machine. He gets on base and I want someone that I have high confidence in that can get me an RBI. Rodriguez is that guy.
Then with a little luck, get another hard hit ball from Spalitta and Rodriguez is driven home. Spalitta has hit the ball just as hard as anyone on the team consistently this year. He just has not had the balls bounce his way.
Based on OBP, your top 3 are TraBarge, Rigo and Spalitta.
I like Mandino to turn over the lineup in the 9 hole.
The meat of the order is the toss up. Based on SLG, it’s Brown, Lee and Markel. That said, I’ll go:
1 TraBarge
2 Spalitta
3 Rigo
4 Donny
5 Colt 45
6 Lee
7 Markel
8 Noah Lewis
9 Dino
First off the bench: OG
Midweek pitching should continue to be used to develop the kids. I want to see Taylor, Smith and Pearson getting long relief opportunities or starts midweek, especially.
Weekend rotation is easy to me right now:
Herman / Roman / Pruitt
I’d like to see Tollett in the pen as a super reliever, ready at any moment to go 5-6 innings.
Bullpen is still TBD. I like Carter and Brasch’s stuff, but they need seasoning. Pap hasn’t showed much in the way of being trusted. Still major question marks.
I’d like to see Lee further up the lineup. He’s a hot and cold kinda bat. I want him to have as many opportunities as possible to get hot. We can live with the cold from him if we continue to manufacture runs like we have.
I agree you would like someone with more power in the 3 hole. My argument is that: 1) no one has shown the ability to do that yet and 2) Blaze and Colt are the only two ppl to have shown a consistent clutch gene in driving runs in IMO. I think Blaze has more of it, so I want him in a place where he likely has someone on base when hitting. Rigo for me could be interesting leadoff with his speed and high OB%. I don’t think Mandino gets on enough to be a leadoff. For the 2 spot, Deggs loves small ball. Mandino handles the bat well, Markle is another one. But I WOULD NOT put Blaze here because of the high chance Deggs is looking to bunt a player over. Wouldn’t want to take Blazes bat out his hand for a sac.
CF, Mandino (L)- Great bat handler, perfect for sac bunt or bunt for hit (to move runners), if Rigo gets on and steals or hits double… much easier to move runner hitting behind him being he’s a lefty
SS, Rodriguez (R)- Most clutch hitter, RBI leader, needs to have someone on base while hitting as much as possible
C, Brown (R) - Pretty much exact same comments as Rodriguez but with more power
1B, Spalitta (L) - Hits everything hard, lefty to break up Right Right, doesn’t strike out, very sneak OB% resetting runners on base after your 1st 4 hitters
3B, Galt (R) - .277 hitter last year and to me just has some swagger with him similar to what I see with Hebert but more proven IMO. Good bat handler in need to move Spalitta over, just want to see him in the lineup
DH, Torres (R) - Career .288 hitter that seems to always get hits when needed the most. RBI machine. Put him in your 2nd 3 hole.
RF, Amedee (L) - High slug hitter that’s either hot or not. Gets a lot of fastballs lower in lineup and very good fastball hitter so hopefully aids in keeping his average up. Has some power, put in your 2nd clean-up spot.
LF, Markle (R) - Just can kind of do anything and if he gets on has good speed. Can set the table for the top, drive in runs, hit with power, handle a bat, switch army knife at the bottom
Markle played OF some for us already. Agree maybe harder sell but I really want to see Galt get a chance. Maybe it’s Galt in the outfield.
Amedee in the outfield to me doesn’t make sense honestly but I have no idea how else to get Torres, Spalitta, and Brown in the lineup together which I think we need. Brown’s arm is to good to remove from the plate, Spalitta’s ABs have been excellent, and Torres career wise probably has been the best hitter on this team for us. Can Spalitta play outfield? IDK, but Deggs always says if you can hit we’ll find a spot for you. Right now I’m just not seeing the OF as a solid lookdown position for anyone based on hitting statistics. Good news is I think we have a lot of options. Collins and LaSalle are very intriguing to me also
