Why Babe Ruth Should Have Hit Lead-off | Bullpen By Committee | SABR

I buy the numbers. I get the logic. As a manager, I would probably not do it. I guess I would need more of a differential before I would buck trend / tradition whatever you want to call it. I would probably be more inclined to do it at the lowers levels, meaning HS and below - more AB's to more productive hitters - rather than be chained to position in the order.



But still fascinating work and food for thought.



Why Babe Ruth Should Have Hit Leadoff | Bullpen By Committee:

We did the same for Babe Ruth, using the 1921 version of Ruth that won our League of All-Time Greats. With Ruth, we found different results.



 

Hitting Ruth leadoff resulted in a significantly greater number of wins than expected by chance, due to the number of additional plate appearances by the leadoff hitter (4.66 PA/game as a leadoff hitter compared to 4.46 in the #2 spot, decreasing steadily down to 3.81 in the #9 hole).

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