Why on earth is Jimy batting Beltran 3rd?????? This guy is the most productive #2 hitter in baseball and he is batting him 3rd??? Not to mention that his speed will become a lot more of a non factor in the 3 hole. This guy needs to lead off or it 2nd...period.
Its not an exact science, and you can be sure that if it doesn't work out it will be changed, but here is my view on why Jimy made the decision this way: 1.) Biggio is still having a great year leading off... you're not going to take him out of there. 2.) While Beltran would be solid here batting second, it also presents the possibility of having a Ausmus-Everett-pitcher back of the order, which KILLED us last year, and shut down a lot of rallies. Just this last week, Ensberg-catcher-pitcher has been much more productive, and definitely gives Jimy more flexibility. 3.) Batting him 3rd (rather than lower) still gives him a good chance to bat as much as possible, so you can't say his speed or OBP won't be a factor at all throughout the game, just because he isn't the first or second guy to bat in the 1st inning (check out his stats... how many of his steals are 1st inning steals?) 4.) He's still a great RBI guy, thus he'll typically bat with men on base more when you bat him 3rd, rather than 2nd. The one thing I fear, however, is that both him and Berkman will be a little bit vulnerable to the late game left-handed pitchers, but Beltran can still hit decently from there, and Berkman hasn't been bad at all this year as a righty.
I don't care how good Biggio has been...he is nowhere NEAR the leadoff hitter/base stealer (or any other offensive catergory for that matter) that Beltran is. We have a guy who could be a Juan Pierre type of leadoff hitter with power and we are burying him in the 3 hole????????
Who is going to bat 6th in this situation?? Biggio Everett Beltran Kent Berkman Bagwell (??????) Ensberg Ausmus
I love Everett, but he needs to go down in the lineup .. With the hitters we have I am going to be sick to my stomach if I see Jimy have Everett bunt Biggio over from 1st to 2nd in the first inning ESPECIALLY against this dangerous Texas Ranger lineup
Here is the lineup for tonight: C. Biggio lf A. Everett ss C. Beltran cf L. Berkman rf J. Kent dh J. Bagwell 1b M. Ensberg 3b B. Ausmus c E. Bruntlett 2b
It couldn't have been too bad - we were 4th in the league in runs scored last year. This year, we are only 7th and dropping. Yeah, the bottom of the order would be weak, but it is the bottom of the order - it is supposed to be weak. We could have a lot more big innings if we didn't lose an out for every Everett at bat.
Since when is the three hole "buried". You bat in the first inning, guaranteed. He is not exactly burying him.
With Beltran batting 3rd you give him the opportunity to bring in runners. You always want your best hitter with runners on base.
but you also have to get runner on base in front of him and everett w/ his 310ish on base average hasn't been donig that this season
I don't think Beltran is our best hitter. Berkman's average is almost 40 points higher, he has more HR's, and draws more walks. I think you bat Beltran 2nd and Berkman 3rd.
Actually, everyone is right. One of the main reasons the Astros wanted Beltran was to bring flexibility. If what Jimy's doing now doesn't work, he'll try him at the 2, 1, etc. Biggio can play 2nd, Berkman can bump back to left and Lane can fill in right. Kent can even get a try at third. The possibilities are now endless.
