I NEED RYAN THERIOT TO STAT IN THE LEADOFF SPOT.

I started writing this post, only to see when the lineup cards came out for Monday’s game that Alfonso Soriano was batting 3rd in place of injured Derrek Lee (neck spasms), and Theriot was leading off. I had a gut feeling about Theriot in the leadoff spot, so I decided to look at the numbers (as of 5/13).

On-base Percentage:
Theriot - .376
Soriano - .356

Strikeouts:
Theriot - 14
Soriano - 28

Walks:
Theriot - 9
Soriano - 5

Stolen bases:
Theriot - 6
Soriano - 5

Average:
Theriot - .322
Soriano - .320

Soriano can bring some pop to the top of the lineup, but his high strikeout total and low walks lead me to want Theriot in the 1 hole, and Soriano to move to 2nd in the lineup. If Soriano moved to number 2, it would make for a really tough top of the lineup (Theriot, Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, Murton/Barrett). I like that, and I think that would lead to more runs. And with the bullpen in the shape that it’s in… the Cubs could ALWAYS use more runs.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2007 at 5:48 pm and is filed under Baseball, Chicago Cubs, MLB. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.