What the hell is the strategy behind Schwarber always batting lead-off?
September 7, 2023
Consider that line along with the fact that he rarely has more than 5 SB in a season and never known for speed.
26 comments
Kinda wild. 40 homers, hella impressive. But .192 for a lead off hitter? Wtf lol.
Hits dingers, walks a lot. Speed at the end of the lineup batting in front of him.
He is on pace to score 108 runs which is exactly what a leadoff hitter is supposed to do.
Only 56 non-HR hits is pretty sad
I wonder if it throws off pitchers too for the next couple batters too 🤷🏽♂️
Wait he has a positive WAR?
Walks a ton, decent OBP and sees a whole lot of pitches. Pretty good modern day lead off guy. Plus the Phil’s have guys that can slug but get on base less often, let them fill out the rest of the top 5 that isn’t Bryce.
Tons of homers and walks and I think at one point he said that he’s most comfortable at lead off, which is p important
*Points to Jonah Hill
“He gets on base.”
Schwarbombs, it’s gets the people goin’
Average doesn’t matter as long as OBP is reasonable.
IE .192 AVG/.343 OBP = .295/.343… it’s basically the same thing.
Because he has a high walk and high strikeout %, it’s a good player to show off 6+ pitches of the starter right off the bat so the rest of the lineup can plan accordingly
40 hr in 96 hits Is bonkers
He has a 121 OPS+, 118 wRC+, and a .348 wOBA, which is all to say he is an above average hitter, largely due to his walk rate and power. So it’s not such a bad thing he’s getting extra AB’s at the top of the order.
As for strategy being 1st, you need a guy who gets on base. Hits are nice, but with no one on, a walk is identical to a single. If he batted later in the lineup, his walk is now worth less because he’ll have more chances to come up with runners on when a hit IS more valuable. Better to have him set up the players with a higher average. The downside of course is the likely increase in solo home runs. But walks are way more consistent than home runs
40 HR and over 100 BB gives him a .343 on-base and an OPS+ of 121, so he actually winds up being a productive leadoff guy
You clearly have never played Battle Royale mode on MLB The Show and it shows (pun intended). /s
When he strikes out, it’s not very impactful, but when he walks, it’s much more impactful. When a guy walks 20% of the time, you want him on base for people, rather than him walking with people on base. Plus, our bottom of the lineup is full of contact hitters, so when/if they do get on base, you’ve got a 40 HR guy that they’re forced to pitch around. His stats are much better as a leadoff hitter as well, so much as well keep him there
I think a leadoff home run can be very demoralizing. The fear of that leads to many leadoff walks as well.
I don’t get it either. Lowest batting average on the team, which means they’re statistically making it as unlikely as possible that your team doesn’t start the game with a hit. He hits homers, yes, but batting leadoff just makes it more likely that they’re solo shots instead of having runners on base. I question this every time I tune into the Phillies.
I really wish the league would kill BA as the main offensive stat and use OPS, OPS+ or OBP as the metric you see all the time. Any one of those 3 tell a better story than BA.
He’s fuckin good
Pete?
A bomb to start the game gets the momentum rolling 😭
26 comments
Kinda wild. 40 homers, hella impressive. But .192 for a lead off hitter? Wtf lol.
Hits dingers, walks a lot. Speed at the end of the lineup batting in front of him.
He is on pace to score 108 runs which is exactly what a leadoff hitter is supposed to do.
Only 56 non-HR hits is pretty sad
I wonder if it throws off pitchers too for the next couple batters too 🤷🏽♂️
Wait he has a positive WAR?
Walks a ton, decent OBP and sees a whole lot of pitches. Pretty good modern day lead off guy. Plus the Phil’s have guys that can slug but get on base less often, let them fill out the rest of the top 5 that isn’t Bryce.
Tons of homers and walks and I think at one point he said that he’s most comfortable at lead off, which is p important
*Points to Jonah Hill
“He gets on base.”
Schwarbombs, it’s gets the people goin’
Average doesn’t matter as long as OBP is reasonable.
IE .192 AVG/.343 OBP = .295/.343… it’s basically the same thing.
Because he has a high walk and high strikeout %, it’s a good player to show off 6+ pitches of the starter right off the bat so the rest of the lineup can plan accordingly
40 hr in 96 hits Is bonkers
He has a 121 OPS+, 118 wRC+, and a .348 wOBA, which is all to say he is an above average hitter, largely due to his walk rate and power. So it’s not such a bad thing he’s getting extra AB’s at the top of the order.
As for strategy being 1st, you need a guy who gets on base. Hits are nice, but with no one on, a walk is identical to a single. If he batted later in the lineup, his walk is now worth less because he’ll have more chances to come up with runners on when a hit IS more valuable. Better to have him set up the players with a higher average. The downside of course is the likely increase in solo home runs. But walks are way more consistent than home runs
40 HR and over 100 BB gives him a .343 on-base and an OPS+ of 121, so he actually winds up being a productive leadoff guy
You clearly have never played Battle Royale mode on MLB The Show and it shows (pun intended). /s
When he strikes out, it’s not very impactful, but when he walks, it’s much more impactful. When a guy walks 20% of the time, you want him on base for people, rather than him walking with people on base. Plus, our bottom of the lineup is full of contact hitters, so when/if they do get on base, you’ve got a 40 HR guy that they’re forced to pitch around. His stats are much better as a leadoff hitter as well, so much as well keep him there
I think a leadoff home run can be very demoralizing. The fear of that leads to many leadoff walks as well.
I don’t get it either. Lowest batting average on the team, which means they’re statistically making it as unlikely as possible that your team doesn’t start the game with a hit. He hits homers, yes, but batting leadoff just makes it more likely that they’re solo shots instead of having runners on base. I question this every time I tune into the Phillies.
I really wish the league would kill BA as the main offensive stat and use OPS, OPS+ or OBP as the metric you see all the time. Any one of those 3 tell a better story than BA.
He’s fuckin good
Pete?
A bomb to start the game gets the momentum rolling 😭
https://theathletic.com/4833416/2023/09/05/kyle-schwarber-leadoff-hitter-phillies?source=user-shared-article
what is his OB percentage? That is the key. High OBP is an amswer. He homered against Pads today
Two outcomes- home run or out, easily for analytics I guess… also baseball has become terrible.