Lineup from 25 Sept
CF: Billy Hamilton
LF: Shin-Soo Choo
1B: Joey Votto
2B: Brandon Phillips
RF: Jay Bruce
3B: Todd Frazier
C: Devin Mesoraco
SS: Cesar Izturis
SP: Mat Latos
This certainly surprised a few Dusty nay-sayers. I would have said that this was the way to order the lineup; sometimes Dusty agrees.
Reds record for games attended in 2014: 11-3
Most memorable game attended this season:
Cueto out-pitching Dickey with a 19 pitch/3 strikeout 9th inning by Chapman
You can hit Hamilton and Choo back to back because billy is a switch hitter.
Right, but that also puts Choo in the 2 spot immediately ahead of Votto. So you're still batting two lefties in a row (regardless of Hamilton's ability to switch).
I like this lineup, though, because Hamilton is before Choo; it's not beneficial to put the speed of Hamilton behind Choo. Plus, Hamilton, Choo, and Votto on base with no outs dramatically improves our odds of scoring a run.
Reds record for games attended in 2014: 11-3
Most memorable game attended this season:
Cueto out-pitching Dickey with a 19 pitch/3 strikeout 9th inning by Chapman
If you want to take full advantage of Hamilton's speed on the bases, wouldn't it be more of a wise move to put Votto behind Hamilton and Choo third? Votto takes more pitches and will give Hamilton a better chance to steal and get in scoring position.
Reds record for games attended in 2014: 11-3
Most memorable game attended this season:
Cueto out-pitching Dickey with a 19 pitch/3 strikeout 9th inning by Chapman
I have to actually eat my words. I looked it up, and Choo takes 4.22 pitches per plate appearance compared to Votto's 4.18.
Choo leads the team among regular players. The list of players that have batted second this year didn't fair so well, and Brandon Phillips is also far down the list with 3.64 pitches per plate appearance.
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