Betting Talk

Batting the pitcher eighth

kanekane Senior Member
edited May 2015 in Sports Betting
I've noticed all year Joe Maddon has been batting his pitcher eighth and putting a position player in the nine hole. Today it looks like he's doing it the normal way as I'm seeing Lester hitting ninth, there's also been another manger in the NL who's done it too, but I can't recall who it is, also, unless I'm mistaken I seem to recall Tony Larussa doing this too. My question is, what , if any advantage is there by hitting your pitcher eighth? If smart guys like Maddon and Larussa do it, I think there must be some advantage, but if that was the case a lot more managers would be doing it. If anyone, especially the math guys have any data that shows if it's beneficial, or not, to have your pitcher hitting eighth, I'd like to see it.

Comments

  • groovinmahoovingroovinmahoovin Senior Member
    edited May 2015
    The difference isn't huge and it only works out to a couple of extra runs per season, but essentially it's because the benefit of the 9 hitter interacting with the better hitters at the top of the lineup slightly outweights the downside of the 8 spot getting slightly more plate appearances. I believe this is dicussed in Tango and Lichtman's "The Book," if not you can probably find info if you Google it.
  • BuckyBadgerBuckyBadger Senior Member
    edited May 2015
    Rookie manager Craig Counsel has also hit the pitcher 8th, on occasion
  • jets96jets96 Senior Member
    edited May 2015
    bottom of cubs order is bad, real bad, when you combine batter 6 7 and 8 they are dead last in hitting and batters 7 8 and 9 are just a bit better , not sure what the cubs pitchers are hitting , right now it doesnt matter where they put them in the order.
    Pitch hitting for the pitcher in the 8th spot might be a bit better for them with the 5 6 7 batters up then pitch hitting for him with the 6 7 8 batters up, i guess it depends on the pitcher, and what groovin said
    luck
  • worm33worm33 Senior Member
    edited May 2015
    jets96 wrote: »
    bottom of cubs order is bad, real bad, when you combine batter 6 7 and 8 they are dead last in hitting and batters 7 8 and 9 are just a bit better , not sure what the cubs pitchers are hitting , right now it doesnt matter where they put them in the order.
    Pitch hitting for the pitcher in the 8th spot might be a bit better for them with the 5 6 7 batters up then pitch hitting for him with the 6 7 8 batters up, i guess it depends on the pitcher, and what groovin said
    luck

    Kind of funny soler coghlan and Russell could be the best 6-8 hitters in the nl.
  • jets96jets96 Senior Member
    edited May 2015
    Maybe, i dont know, i was just saying cubs 6-7-8 batters including pitchers are hitting .178 worst in majors, thier 6-7-8-9 batters including pitchers are hitting .200, or close to it , i dont figure it into capping so dont follow to closely.
  • kanekane Senior Member
    edited May 2015
    BuckyBadger wrote: »
    Rookie manager Craig Counsel has also hit the pitcher 8th, on occasion

    In addition to Counsel, Bryan Price of the Reds has been hitting his pitcher eighth and batting Billy Hamilton in the nine hole, and I see today the Marlins have their pitcher batting eighth as well. I guess when a respected manager like Maddon starts doing something, others take note, it will be interesting to see if this trend spreads to other NL teams
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