Re: Wade Boggs and Lead-off theory.
- From: Dave Bismo <bismo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:33:29 GMT
On 21 Mar 2007 04:49:33 GMT, OceanView <me@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"Ray O'Hara" <roh@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:Hq6dnVAWmdCI453bnZ2dnUVZ_rKvnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx:
"Magnus, Robot Fighter." <me@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2i0103pdcavhk2o7s2t4mkq6bdc7lung1h@xxxxxxxxxx
While it's true Boggs had an incredible OBS....he had 0 speed.
Wouldn't it have been better to bat him second so he advance the
theoretical runner in front of him?
he was a smart baserunner and he scored 100 runs yearly.
I think earlier in his career, he hit second, and I seem to remember at some
point much lower in the order, like 7th or 8th, briefly. A lot of his hits
were line drives, not bleeders, so speed wasn't that big a factor.
I remember Boggs switching lineup slots a lot, especially as a younger
player. To be sure, I checked the numbers on baseball-reference.com
(which has *wonderful* statistical splits, year-by-year and career).
I was surprised to find that Boggs switched slots even more than I
remembered. There was only one season where Boggs stayed in one
lineup position all year.
As a rookie, Boggs most frequently hit 6th or 5th. He was basically
slotted into Lansford's #5 hole, and then moved down when Carney
returned from the DL. He did bat at least once in every lineup slot
that year.
In 1983, he started out in the #5 spot, batted 2nd in 81 games, and
batted leadoff in 18 games. In 1984, he mostly hit leadoff, but also
batted third in 25 games. Then in 1985, he mostly hit 2nd, but
sometimes led off. Same thing in 1986. For his power year of 1987,
Boggs was primarily a #3 hitter, but led off 25 times. In 1988, it
was reversed (mainly leadoff; occasionally third).
*Finally*, in 1989, Boggs had a year where he didn't switch places in
the lineup. He led off every game in which he played.
But in 1990 and 1991, he went back to his usual madness, batting
mainly leadoff and sometimes third. Strangely, he only batted .222 as
a leadoff man in 1991, his last and worst season with Boston, so they
moved him back to the #3 spot, where he improved but still hit "only"
..287.
Here are his career stats in each lineup slot, courtesy of
baseball-reference.com. Note that it includes his Yankee and Tampa
Bay stats, and he had begun to decline a bit there.
1st: .321/.413/.428 (961 games)
2nd: .339/.421/.456 (644 games)
3rd: .329/.422/.470 (525 games)
4th: .357/.387/.357 (11 games)
5th: .323/.394/.381 (84 games)
6th: .323/.397/.423 (138 games)
7th: .321/.357/.449 (30 games)
8th: .319/.418/.426 (34 games, but only 55 PA--mainly as a PH)
9th: .273/.403/.382
overall: .328/.415/.443.
So it looks like Boggs was pretty consistent in every position, and
actually did best in the #3 slot, and was a little better as a #2
hitter than a leadoff man. But all these numbers are excellent. He
was a great hitter.
-Bismo.
.
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