My Lineup: Arizona Diamondbacks

My Lineup: Arizona Diamondbacks

            With all the talk the last few days about the Dbacks having problems with Kurt Gibson’s ability to make a line up I decided to try something new.  Using sabermetric stats (and not looking at the current “lineup”) I want to make what I feel is an optimized lineup using saber stats.  I plan to use different stats to compliment the players depending on where they fall in the lineup.  An example would be the difference from the person batting 3^rd to the person batting 7^th.  You don’t need a good SLG and or GPA in the 7^th spot but a good OBP and contact rate is important to both.  So with that lets take a look at what I would have the lineup at with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

1)   Martin Prado-LF

2)   Aaron Hill-2B

3)   Eric Chavez-3B

4)   Paul Goldschmidt-1B

5)   Adam Eaton-CF

6)   Miguel Montero-C

7)   Gerardo Parra-RF

8)   Didi Gregorious-SS

9)   Pitcher

I like this lineup personally and I see it having a lot of potential, well at least in the font of the lineup.  The team doesn’t have many power threats beyond Goldschmidt and Hill so making a lineup that can stay a threat was a little tough but I think I like this.  So lets look at what I did.  The team normally has Parra leading off but looking at the stats I noticed that Prado not only has a better AVG and OBP which I like in a lead off hitter but he has a better swing %, contact %, BB% and K%.  It goes without saying that his BB/K is also better making Prado a much better option to Parra.  The only downside is Prado isn’t a base stealer, though that doesn’t make him a bad base runner just not a stealer.  I put Hill batting second under the theory that you want your best hitter should bat 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th.  But Hill is one of the team leaders in HR’s, SLG, OBP, AVG and RC.  Him being in the 2 hole will help create and score runs for the team that no one else can.  Eric Chavez is the oddest choice; an older player that does have power but the injury risk makes him a hard choice to back up.  But here’s the thing about Chavez, he’s still one of the better contact hitters on the team.  He’s got an 84% contact rate the ability to hit .290 easy.  Goldschmidt is obviously the best fit for the clean up spot.  The hard part after Goldschmidt is like I mentioned earlier, very few good OPS guys after the top 4.  Eaton is good as a contact hitter an will develop power later on but for now he’s got a 15 HR guy at most.  The only player that has a good chance to improve his chances is Miguel Montero who is having a bad season so far but can easily hit for better power and AVG than he is now.

            Well there it is, let me know what you think.