Red Sox Opening Day 2017: What lineup should be used?
The ‘Betts 4th’ Lineup
- Pedroia (R)
- Bogaerts (R)
- Benintendi (L)
- Betts (R)
- Ramirez (R)
- Moreland (L)
- Bradley (L)
- Sandoval (S)
- Leon (S)
Losing David Ortiz leaves the Red Sox without one of, if not the best, run producers in baseball last season. Therefore, the Red Sox need a guy in the middle of the order that can produce runs at a similar clip as Big Papi, and Mookie Betts can absolutely be that guy.
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Once again, this lineup puts the pressure on Benintendi to hit, and even more so considering he would be batting third. Swapping Bogaerts and Benintendi is another option in this lineup. Bogaerts has plenty of experience batting third, considering he did it for a good portion of last season.
What this lineup lacks, is Mookie Betts. What I mean by this is getting him the necessary amount of at-bats. Considering he is the best hitter on the team, getting him up to hit in the 1st inning is important, and getting him as many at-bats as possible is even more important.
While I don’t feel that batting him lead-off would solve this due to how effective he is producing runs, batting him third instead of fourth might make a little bit more sense.