Kris Bryant to lead off

[CSF77]

Heyward is one of the worst playoff hitters ever. Literally ever. So I don’t get why people don’t understand he needs to limited as much as possible at the plate. Guy has like one big hit in May and people think he’s clutch or something.

He needs a shrink. He’s choking the bat to death to the point where his wrists are overlapping. Will never have more than a good week or two until he fixes that.

Yep.

4920 AB's he has a .261/.343/.412 slash.

2016 was his worst year with a .230/.306/.325
2019 .251/.343/.429 So it was not far off from his career avg. Add to it .343 OBA is not this crappy number that you suggest. 2016 and a .306 yes he should have been pegged into the 8 all season long.

But getting to the line up:

Bryant: ..284/.385/.516 It is hard not to look at him as a lead off with that OBA
Heyward .261/.343/.412
Baez .270/.310/.484
Rizzo .293/.405/.520
Contreras: .267/.350/.470
Schwarber: .235/.339/.490
Happ: .246/.340/.476
Bote: .251/.346/.417

So looking at it over Schwarber had a good 2nd half but his track record is RBI bat.
Happ same thing.
Bote is a better OBA guy and with the pitcher behind him it feeds into this with Bryant leading off.

My issue is Schwarber/Happ, Heyward/Bote 5-8. The line up will die after contreras. Even if you add PA's to Schwarber there is no justification for it with a career .339 OBA. Sure he had a solid 2nd half but he needs a whole season to really justify a real change. Happ had a great return also. But that doesn't make him a great hitter either.

 

[CSF77]

No, Rizzo was told he is the number 2 hitter.

Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo Excited About Having Ample Time to Adjust to New Roles - Cubs Insider

Cubs fans are going to have more opportunities than ever to snag free giveaways from the Bryzzo Souvenir Company, as the proprietors will be batting earlier and oftener this season. Manager David Ross announced Wednesday that he’d approached Kris Bryant about the idea of being the team’s...

www.cubsinsider.com

Well I get the most PA's to the best OBA players in nature. But you really are causing a deficiency in the line up by doing so. Basically you are depending on Baez who has a career .310 OBA to generate runs with Schwarber and his .339 OBA to give a 2nd chance.

Over all I see it as stagnate. Now if they went

Bryant .284/.385/.516
Rizzo .293/.405/.520
Contrereas .267/.350/.470
Schwarber: .235/.339/.490
Baez .270/.310/.484
Happ: .246/.340/.476
Heyward .261/.343/.412
Bote: .251/.346/.417

I kinda see this as a option also. We do get wrapped up in Baez as a over all player but his OBA will always be an eyesore for him and more PA + lower OBA = more outs.

So that is my take at least.

 

[Castor76]

Going with the line up of Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Schwarber, Contreras, Heyward, Happ, Bote Is probably their best go.

Both Bryant and Rizzo have OBP of .390 and .391 the past 3 seasons respectively. So, even with a crude adjustment of the GiDP rate of Rizzo over that time, it would still mean that Baez would come to bat with at least one runner on in 60.3% of his his first PA. He'd have 2 runners on, in theory, 15.25% of the time. That puts Baez in the situation he's most productive in the most PAs. That would make his .298/.341/.531 slash with runners on the past 3 seasons fairly livable. Albeit only 110 AB.s, his numbers from the #3 slot are awesome.

 

[kerrywoodwins20]

Going with the line up of Bryant, Rizzo, Baez, Schwarber, Contreras, Heyward, Happ, Bote Is probably their best go.

Both Bryant and Rizzo have OBP of .390 and .391 the past 3 seasons respectively. So, even with a crude adjustment of the GiDP rate of Rizzo over that time, it would still mean that Baez would come to bat with at least one runner on in 60.3% of his his first PA. He'd have 2 runners on, in theory, 15.25% of the time. That puts Baez in the situation he's most productive in the most PAs. That would make his .298/.341/.531 slash with runners on the past 3 seasons fairly livable. Albeit only 110 AB.s, his numbers from the #3 slot are awesome.

Hitting Heyward 6th is asking for lots of killed rallies. Just hit him 8th all year and be done with it. When he has his one productive month, just leave him there. It’ll mean more RBI chances for a month for Bryant.

And the guy has been pressing for 4 years. Maybe never being counted on for production will help him.

 

[TL1961]

I wonder if Ross like lefty, righty or he doesnt care.

Could go

Bryant
Rizzo
Baez
Schwarbs

or switch out Rizzo and Schwarbs.

I have no problem with Bryant at number one but I’m not crazy about Rizzo at number two

 

[Diehardfan]

The majority of Bryant's AB's came from the two hole last year, moving up one doesn't change that much. There will be a few games where there is an extra AB but mostly not. This chart is a year or so old but the premise is there. Ross can also hit the pitcher 8th to try to get some bodies on base in front of him. Much being made out of nothing....what they should be looking at is getting people on the field that don't defensively give extra outs.

Differences per Game

Split	PA/GS	PA/G	Diff
Batting 1st	4.65	4.14	0.52
Batting 2nd	4.55	3.97	0.58
Batting 3rd	4.43	3.89	0.54
Batting 4th	4.33	3.71	0.62
Batting 5th	4.24	3.59	0.65
Batting 6th	4.13	3.36	0.77
Batting 7th	4.01	3.23	0.79
Batting 8th	3.90	2.84	1.06
Batting 9th	3.77	1.29	2.48
Total	4.22	3.04	1.19

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Guys? I get it that y'all want Rickey Henderson leading off. EVERY team wants Rickey Henderson leading off.

Guess what? There ain't no Rickey Hendersons in the league anymore. Of the 30 MLB clubs, maybe 10 have what you would classically think of as lead-off hitters in their organizations -- fast center-fielder types with good average and insane OBP. And of those 10, maybe five of them are guys you can rely on year after year to lead off, if they didn't just fold under big-league pressure.

The teams who have classic lead-off guys, even those in full rebuilds, aren't trading them, or else the Royals would have Bryant and the Cubs would have Whit Merrifield.

So, except for making a deal with the devil and CREATING a lead-off man out of globs of mud via profane arts or something... who do you suggest the Cubs can realistically get who would be better than Bryant or Rizzo in that spot?

-New Doug

 

[Diehardfan]

Guys? I get it that y'all want Rickey Henderson leading off. EVERY team wants Rickey Henderson leading off.

Guess what? There ain't no Rickey Hendersons in the league anymore. Of the 30 MLB clubs, maybe 10 have what you would classically think of as lead-off hitters in their organizations -- fast center-fielder types with good average and insane OBP. And of those 10, maybe five of them are guys you can rely on year after year to lead off, if they didn't just fold under big-league pressure.

The teams who have classic lead-off guys, even those in full rebuilds, aren't trading them, or else the Royals would have Bryant and the Cubs would have Whit Merrifield.

So, except for making a deal with the devil and CREATING a lead-off man out of globs of mud via profane arts or something... who do you suggest the Cubs can realistically get who would be better than Bryant or Rizzo in that spot?

-New Doug

Was old Doug remastered?

 

[CubsFaninMN]

Was old Doug remastered?

LOL, nope. SilenceS posted a cute scene from Thor: Ragnarok when Thor is first imprisoned in the gladiator's area, and another prisoner talks about how there was a guy like Thor in there before, who got killed, named Doug. And he was going to call Thor New Doug.

I thought that was hilarious, so I decided to change my signature to match.

-New Doug