I did this last year, but decided to go into more detail this season.

Just how bad of a mistake is Dusty making by continuing to hit Junior 3rd out of "respect?"

Well, the following numbers are quite staggering.

I took all National League teams #3 hitters-- this was determined by the player on each team with the most AB's at that slot.

I then ranked them 1-16 in 5 different categories (Avg, HR, RBI, OBP, SLG)

Here are the rankings in each category....at the end, I then added up each category-- the player with the lowest score was ranked "highest," and on down the list.

Avg.

1. Chipper
2. Pujols
3. Berkman
4. Holliday
5. Guzman
6. Lee
7. Martin
8. Hudson
9. Utley
10. Winn
11. Wright
12. Bay
13. Braun
(tie) Gonzalez
15. Cantu
16. Junior

As a point of reference Cantu is hitting .283, Junior is hitting .240

HR

1. Utley
2. Berkman
(tie) Gonzalez
4. Braun
5. Chipper
6. Pujols
(tie) Bay
8. Wright
9. Lee
(tie) Cantu
11. Holliday
12. Junior
13. Martin
14. Hudson
15. Winn
(tie) Guzman

RBI

1. Gonzalez
2. Berkman
3. Utley
4. Wright
5. Braun
6. Lee
7. Chipper
8. Holliday
(tie) Cantu
10. Pujols
11. Bay
12. Martin
13. Junior
14. Hudson
15. Winn
16. Guzman

OBP

1. Chipper
2. Pujols
3. Berkman
4. Holliday
5. Martin
6. Bay
7. Wright
8. Utley
9. Lee
10. Hudson
11. Winn
12. Gonzalez
13. Junior
14. Guzman
15. Cantu
16. Braun

SLG

1. Berkman
2. Chipper
3. Pujols
4. Utley
5. Holliday
6. Braun
7. Bay
8. Gonzalez
9. Lee
10. Wright
11. Cantu
12. Hudson
13. Martin
14. Guzman
15. Winn
16. Junior

Yep, Ken Griffey Junior is being out-slugged by Christian Guzman, Russell Martin, and Randy Winn

Totals:

1. Berkman (11)
2. Chipper (16)
3. Pujols (23)
4. Utley (25)
5. Holliday (32)
6. Gonzalez (36)
7. Lee (39)
8. Wright (40)
9. Bay (43)
10. Braun (44)
11. Martin (50)
12. Hudson (58)
(tie) Cantu (58)
14. Guzman (64)
15. Winn (66)
16. Junior (70)

Now, THAT is respect!!