The Impact Of The Batting Order...AL Central

Managers need to consider the position in the batting order that their late round draftees might be occupying. It’s clear that the earlier your player bats in the order, the more chances to produce stats to help win your league. Whether it is H2H or Roto, batting order position over the course of the 162 game schedules can affect your hitting categories, with the biggest impact being on R and in some cases HR and RBI.

I will give you the probable line-ups for each team per division. I have made decisions on starters regarding platoons and injuries to limit one player per batting position. If you are on the fence over a couple of players to select late in your draft consider batting position as one factor.

AL CENTRAL

WHITE SOX	INDIANS
1. LF Juan Pierre	1. CF Grady Sizemore
2. 2B Gordon Beckham	2. SS Asdrubal Cabrera
3. CF Alex Rios	3. RF Shin-Soo Choo
4. DH Adam Dunn	4. C Carlos Santana
5. 1B Paul Konerko	5. DH Travis Hafner
6. C A.J. Pierzynski	6. 1B Matt LaPorta
7. RF Carlos Quentin	7. 3B Jayson Nix
8. SS Alexei Ramirez	8. 2B Orlando Cabrera
9. 3B Brent Morel	9. LF Michael Brantley

TIGERS	ROYALS
1. CF Austin Jackson	1. 2B Chris Getz
2. 2B Scott Sizemore	2. 3B Mike Aviles
3. RF Magglio Ordonez	3. DH Billy Butler
4. 1B Miguel Cabrera	4. RF Jeff Francoeur
5. DH Victor Martinez	5. CF Melky Cabrera
6. LF Ryan Raburn	6. LF Alex Gordon
7. SS Jhonny Peralta	7. 1B Kila Ka'aihue
8. 3B Brandon Inge	8. C Brayan Pena
9. C Alex Avila	9. SS Alcides Escobar

TWINS

1. CF Denard Span

2. 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka

3. C Joe Mauer

4. 1B Justin Morneau

5. RF Michael Cuddyer

6. DH Jim Thome

7. LF Delmon Young

8. 3B Danny Valencia

9. SS Alexi Casilla

The Impact Of The Batting Order...AL East

Managers need to consider the position in the batting order that their late round draftees might be occupying. It’s clear that the earlier your player bats in the order, the more chances to produce stats to help win your league. Whether it is H2H or Roto, batting order position over the course of the 162 game schedules can affect your hitting categories, with the biggest impact being on R and in some cases HR and RBI.

I will give you the probable line-ups for each team per division. I have made decisions on starters regarding platoons and injuries to limit one player per batting position. If you are on the fence over a couple of players to select late in your draft consider batting position as one factor. Example: You punted on SS until late. You have the choice between Escobar and Hardy. Similar players with similar production. Now that Escobar will be batting 2nd compared to Hardy hitting 9th, the choice for the extra R potential could be Escobar.

AL EAST

ORIOLES	RED SOX
1. 2B Brian Roberts	1. CF Jacoby Ellsbury
2. RF Nick Markakis	2. 2B Dustin Pedroia
3. 1B Derrek Lee	3. LF Carl Crawford
4. DH Vladimir Guerrero	4. 1B Adrian Gonzalez
5. LF Luke Scott	5. 3B Kevin Youkilis
6. 3B Mark Reynolds	6. DH David Ortiz
7. CF Adam Jones	7. RF J.D. Drew
8. C Matt Wieters	8. C Jarrod Saltalamacchia
9. SS J.J. Hardy	9. SS Marco Scutaro

YANKEES	RAYS
1. SS Derek Jeter	1. C John Jaso
2. CF Curtis Granderson	2. LF Johnny Damon
3. 1B Mark Teixeira	3. 3B Evan Longoria
4. 3B Alex Rodriguez	4. DH Manny Ramirez
5. 2B Robinson Cano	5. RF Matt Joyce
6. RF Nick Swisher	6. 2B Ben Zobrist
7. DH Jorge Posada	7. 1B Dan Johnson
8. C Russell Martin	8. CF B.J. Upton
9. LF Brett Gardner	9. SS Reid Brignac

BLUE JAYS

1. CF Rajai Davis

2. SS Yunel Escobar

3. 3B Jose Bautista

4. 1B Adam Lind

5. 2B Aaron Hill

6. LF Travis Snider

7. DH Edwin Encarnacion

8. RF Juan Rivera

9. C J.P. Arencibia

Fix My Team...Keeper Draft

Donnie writes in asking “Is drafting Longoria 3^rd a reach in a 10 team keeper league”?

There are several more challenges that go into getting prepared for a keeper draft than there is in doing an annual draft that starts new each season. If you are in your initial draft in a keeper league, the first draft his HUGE! One of the most important strategies for a keeper league is to draft to win. A lot of managers can get caught up in drafting the hot prospects in the early rounds, just to end up dropping them a few weeks in. The first rule of the keeper draft is obtaining players who will help you win NOW. Be assured there will be plenty of long term prospects to acquire later in your draft.

As far as Longoria goes, the depth at third is again somewhat deceiving for a keeper league. The only true young 3B with 5 stat capabilities are Longoria and Wright. I call this the top hitters at weak positions rule in keeper leagues. Every position only has handful young but proven players that can contribute across all categories. Longoria is one of these players.

So to answer your question, Longoria is not a stretch to draft 3^rd overall in your keeper league. The true test will come with your next 2 picks. It then comes down to who you see as the best long range outlook/players to round out your initial picks. The hope is these initial picks will carry your team for a few years. You should back Longoria up with a power hitting 1B in the next round followed by someone with 20/20 potential like Choo, Kemp, Kinsler, or Reyes in round 3. Good luck Donnie and thanks for the question.

The Impact Of The Batting Order...NL West

Managers need to consider the position in the batting order that their late round draftees might be occupying. It’s clear that the earlier your player bats in the order, the more chances to produce stats to help win your league. Whether it is H2H or Roto, batting order position over the course of the 162 game schedules can affect your hitting categories, with the biggest impact being on R and in some cases HR and RBI.

Here is a look at the NL numbers over the last three seasons based on position in the batting order, excluding the pitchers spot (well except in St. Louis where LaRussa bats his pitcher 8^th). This clearly shows the difference between hitting first in the lineup and eighth is a little over 120 at bats, which is almost like getting or losing a full month of stats over the course of the season. It is clear the biggest impact is for runs scored where the difference is a little over 40 runs a season which is a huge amount!

Order	AB	Average	Runs	Hits	HR	RBI
1	682	0.269	103	184	15	64
2	665	0.275	97	183	14	68
3	634	0.287	100	182	25	98
4	624	0.273	91	170	28	105
5	613	0.261	83	160	23	92
6	602	0.259	73	156	20	80
7	590	0.255	66	150	15	74
8	563	0.246	60	139	11	61

I will give you the probable line-ups for each team per division. I have made decisions on starters regarding platoons and injuries to limit one player per batting position. If you are on the fence over a couple of players to select late in your draft consider batting position as one factor. 

NL WEST

SAN FRANCISCO	SAN DIEGO
1. CF Andres Torres	1. RF Will Venable
2. 2B Freddy Sanchez	2. SS Jason Bartlett
3. 1B Aubrey Huff	3. 2B Orlando Hudson
4. C Buster Posey	4. LF Ryan Ludwick
5. SS Miguel Tejada	5. 1B Brad Hawpe
6. LF Pat Burrell	6. 3B Chase Headley
7. 3B Pablo Sandoval	7. CF Cameron Maybin
8. RF Cody Ross	8. C Nick Hundley

LOS ANGELES	COLORADO
1. SS Rafael Furcal	1. CF Dexter Fowler
2. 1B James Loney	2. LF Seth Smith
3. CF Matt Kemp	3. RF Carlos Gonzalez
4. RF Andre Ethier	4. SS Troy Tulowitzki
5. 2B Juan Uribe	5. 1B Todd Helton
6. LF Jay Gibbons	6. 2B Jose Lopez
7. 3B Casey Blake	7. 3B Ian Stewart
8. C Rod Barajas	8. C Chris Iannetta

ARIZONA

1. CF Chris Young

2. 2B Kelly Johnson

3. SS Stephen Drew

4. RF Justin Upton

5. C Miguel Montero

6. 3B Melvin Mora

7. 1B Xavier Nady

8. LF Gerardo Parra