Who or what type of hitter do you place in the #9 slot, in a DH game, league, or tournament? It has been my experience that most leagues and tournaments I play in use the DH. This is not the place for a DH or not argument, but who or what type of hitter to place in the #9 slot.
I like the La Russa method at times. I was able to see Tony manage many games on TV as we now live in Illinois and I tend to watch the Cardinals. I also read the book book Three Nights in August that gives an inside look at his managing. He likes a "second lead-off hitter" in the 9 slot and your worst hitter or slowest player in the 8 (Hence the pitcher for Tony in the NL).
Tournament Play.
I'm warming up the 1970 Minnesota Twins for the Wisconsin APBA Tournament and I have been playing around with batting orders for this interesting crew.
The batting line-up for the Wisconsin Tournament:
Tovar .300/.442/.356 RF-2 F
Oliva .325/.514/.364 CF-2 F
Carew .366/.524/.407 2B - F
Killebrew .271/.546/.411 3B-3 S
Alyea .291/.531/.366 DH S
Reese .261/.371/.332 1B-5
Holt .266/.342/.300 LF-2 F
Cardenas .247/.374/.300 SS-9
Mitterwald .222/.388/.291 C-8 S
Hide Mitterwald in the 9 slot or hit him 8 and get a better runner at the #9? In a short tourney I like moving Mitterwald to 9 and using a pinch-runner when necessary. In a tourney I get less than 50 at bats for the 8 and 9 hitter, so we are losing few if any plate appearances with this line-up. In a tourney using these Twins I have 2 fast pinch runners to put on base if need be, and adequate catchers (although lesser defenders) to put behind the dish.
So, for a short tournament, I like stashing the worst hitter in the 9 spot (conventional wisdom) and relying on fancy pinch-runners and pinch hitting moves in critical situations.
I have two F runners for these situations, but have very limited pinch-hitters. In fact I have one pinch-hitter, and he is a bit of surprise.
The 1970 Twins: Luis Tiant! Check out his card:
11, 33, 66 - 6s
15-11
22, 25, 44, 55 - 7s
45-14
42, 64 - 9s
31, 35, 51, 8s
As a starter, he is a C no letters, but a solid hitter.
Another lesson for newer players, take a look at EVERY card when looking for pinch-hitters.
Thus, in the tight situations than managers love, and can turn a tournament; I'll use this strategy. In tight games, late, I like Tiant as a pinch hitter for Reese through Mitterwald, if he gets on, pinch run Hill. Also, if Mitterwald gets on, with less than 2 outs, I like pinch running for him late in tight games, especially if I see him standing on 2nd base with 0 outs.
League play.
In a league, the long season creates more at bats for the 8 hitter over the 9 hitter. In a 162 game season, Cardenas will get approximately 20 more plate appearances in the 8th slot as opposed to the 9th where I would hit him otherwise. Those 20 plate appearances can be important in terms of moving him around the bases when the order turns over and not overusing my bench to run and making complicated rules for other managers to follow.
The batting line-up for league play:
Tovar .300/.442/.356 RF-2 F
Oliva .325/.514/.364 CF-2 F
Carew .366/.524/.407 2B - F
Killebrew .271/.546/.411 3B-3 S
Alyea .291/.531/.366 DH S
Reese .261/.371/.332 1B-5
Holt .266/.342/.300 LF-2 F
Mitterwald .222/.388/.291 C-8 S
Cardenas .247/.374/.300 SS-9
Plate Appearances for the American League in 2009 (compliments Dead Cat's Bounce) :
AL:
1st - 762
2nd - 743
3rd - 725
4th - 709
5th - 693
6th - 675
7th - 657
8th - 638
9th - 618
Mitterwald should get 20 more plate appearances over Cardenas and stretched over that length of time and I can take the statistical hit dropping from a .247 hitter to a .222 hitter higher in the line-up.
With guys like Oliva and Crew hitting 2 and 3, I like average speed over slow standing at first or second base and not having to "coach" the runner with those bats in the line-up. They tend to hit a lot of doubles over home runs and I'd rather turn an average runner loose than coach a slow runner and come up short in a league. I also dislike a slow runner holding up that speed at the top. Mitterwald can take away Tovar, Oliva, and Carew's speed with his S at the bottom if the line-up rolls over. This problem, I can manage on a at-bat by at-bat basis in a tournament.
Tournaments games are all critical games, thus with Mitterwald on first or second base with less than two outs, I pinch run Herm Hill and turn the rabbit loose to those dangerous 2 and 3 hitters,
The #4 slot is another animal; Killer tends to empty the bases slow runners or not.
FYI- the 1964 Jim Kaat went yard with two on for me in the Chicago Fall tourney.
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