Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

I keep seeing headlines: "Harper steals 5 bases in loss." He dominates the record books for stolen bases. But his obp and ba (and defense) are weak. Anybody found a way to use him effectively? Where do you bat him in the lineup? Hitting 8th, can he score 80 or so runs?

He would be PERFECT (IMHO) as the 9th hitter in a DH league. Not enough OBP or BA to bat at the top, but a nice speedster at the bottom of the order with the top of the lineup to follow...

I'm not too sure where he would best fit in a conventional league/lineup. I had him once for about 50 games and swapped him out.

I think Harper is best used as the left fielder and in a platoon where he only bats against righties. Against, righties only he hits better and has a higher SB %. He is a defensive liability at 3rd, and his OBP/power is pretty low for a left fielder.

I have had him for 2 partial seasons. Bat him first, in front of 2 good hitters for average adn he'll score practically every time he gets on. Also is good in front of a double-play hitter and will occasionally drag along a slower runner in a double steal.

Or bat him 7th in front of a double-play hitter and/or a bad clutch hitter. With 2 out, Harper steals second and the bad clutch hitter is walked. If the pitcher hits, at least you start the next inning with your leadoff.

his numbers in a platoon
349 47 4 9 46 44 52 8 .203 .304 .290 / 52 steals in partial season

He played leftfield for me and batted lead-off. He didn't miss a game, put up decent numbers, and helped me make the playoffs: [url=http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/1969/team/team_other.html?user_id=1081]Miracle Mets[/url]

I ended up using him as a platoon 3b against lefties at Forbes:

295 43 10 5 23 39 28 11 .214 .298 .304

I started the season using him as my regular 3b, but a BA below 200 forced me to change.

platoon against lefties? Did you mean righties? Harper hits righties better, plus (and in his case it's a big plus) it's easier to steal against righties. So, platooning him against lefties doesn't make any sense.