Just Wright for Batting Eighth
The blog universe is up in arms over manager Willie Randolph’s decision to bat David Wright in the eighth slot in the batting order. I’m going to go against the grain and defend Willie’s idea. Wright has limited major league experience and, though he may be a better hitter than some other players on the team, hasn’t yet ‘made his bones’ on this level yet. Besides, the prevalent attitude about batting one’s worst batter in the eighth position is flawed. Wright has the ability to get on base, he runs well and can even hit the long ball. What does that do in the eighth position? It minimizes the times you’ll have your pitcher leading off the following inning. At the same time you don’t want a stiff batting earlier in the order and killing rallies so I wouldn’t bet on Wright staying in the eighth position too long when guys like Doug Mientkiewicz, Kazuo Matsui and Mike Cameron go cold.
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