by MARCPELLETIER » Sat Mar 18, 2006 11:42 pm
cummings2,
I don't understand your logic, and the few things that I understand doesn't sound logic to me. You seem to assume that good hitters avoid double-plays, but I don't believe this is true. From Jim Rice to Vlad, there has been a ton of strong hitters who were double-plays wonders. About half of all-time leaders in grounded-into-double-plays are hall-of-famers (see here [url] http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/GIDP_career.shtml [/url]
In fact, if your best hitter hits #2, then you will likely avoid calling bunts and hit-and-run, and you will also be more conservative with your runner at first, so your overall chances to ground into double-plays are not minimized, as you say, but actually much increased.
That is in fact the whole rationale of the "old-timer" thinking. Because your #2 is likely to be called hit-and-runs, bunts, and red flags (to let the runner steals second), it was logical for old-times to place in the second slot an "all-tool" player---a player that could hit-and-run, bunt, and also able to take a strike and be capable of putting the ball in play with two strikes, and to avoid to your best hitter these strategies.