There are so many ways to develop a starting line-up. Some are more traditional than others, but The Book by Tom Tango, Michael Lichtman, and Andrew Dolphin discuss an approach based on research and developing models based on run values for various in-game events.
There is a chapter of The Book that discusses batting orders, so I thought it would be interesting to re-arrange a major league line-up based on the research conducted for the book. Because the Yankees line-up remains pretty consistent day to day, I chose use their team as an example. In the video, I breakdown the line-up spot by spot, explain the criteria for each spot as identified in The Book, and then developed my own line-up in comparison to the Yankees’ from their game on August 28th. This game was selected because most of their starters were playing.
Not mentioned in the video above, if I were to create an ideal line-up for when the Yankees are all back from injury, it would look like this:
What do you think of the line-up based on The Book’s guidance?
Hi Andrea,
I love Gardy, but is he that much of an upgrade in the outfield that you DH Stanton (who has a much better arm) and leave out Voit? And like you I give Torres the benefit of the doubt, but he’ll be on a very short leash. With all the power bats in this lineup already the fielding and speed of the switch-hitting Velazquez looks like a very good alternative.
2B LeMahieu
CF Judge
LF Gallo
RF Stanton
1B Rizzo
DH Voit
C Sanchez
3B Urshela
SS Torres