Where a player bats in the lineup does not effect his performance that much. It’s just another example of of how batting orders don’t really matter that much, talent wins out in the end.

The more this issue gets studied, the more I’m convinced that batting orders are about egos. Yes, you want the best hitters getting up the most, but you also want to keep your players happy. It’s probably better to bat a player third or fourth who thinks he should be batting third or fourth than the player with the best numbers who doesn’t care that much. I used to cringe when John McNamara would sit Wade Boggs and bat Ed Romero lead-off so the rest of the lineup didn’t change. Now I think it’s not such a bad move.

I’d love to see a manager sit down with his starting nine in the pre-season and hammer out a lineup with their input. “Who wants to bat first?” Take down the names and let the players make their cases until they come to a consensus. I bet you would end up with a pretty good lineup, and players happy where they are batting.