Will he hit .300 in 2006? Who cares! (But he probably will)
In baseball, the #8 hitter is hardly a guy that generates much airtime on sports talk radio, or has his name on the tips of the tongues of the masses around town. A fellow who is placed that far down in the order, folks usually don't have much time for. In the National League, in fact, the #8 man is just ahead of the pitcher, so how important can he really be in the scheme of things, anyway?
But Detroit is not like most baseball towns. There's all the losing, for one. Find me a big league city who's seen more games in the last 12 seasons where the home team has come out on the bottom of the score, and I'll give you a steak sandwich. With extra onions and horseradish.
Detroit is also unlike all the other big league baseball cities in that its fans do not know how to respond to players' individual success. We Detroiters stumble all over ourselves when a fellow in a Tigers uniform shows even the slightest hint of baseball accumen.
Chris Shelton -- Big Red -- is scheduled to be in the lineup most days as the Tigers' first baseman, and new manager Jim Leyland has placed him in the eighth spot in the batting order. In most towns, that is cause for a yawn and a request to pass the peanuts.
But to hear some teeth-gnashers tell it, it's Chris Shelton who should be watched most closely this season. He should, if they had their way, be the most-anticipated #8 hitter in major league baseball in 2006.
Shelton has earned this ignominious honor because he had the gall to hit at a .299 clip with the Tigers as a rookie last season, and now everyone is wondering if he's a fluke, or if he's the real deal. The recent cashiering of first baseman Carlos Pena has added to this wonderment, because now first base is pretty much Shelton's and Shelton's alone.
"I like Chris Shelton, but I just hope he can keep it up," is the jist of what the baseball denizens in Motown are saying.
Forget that Shelton has hit everywhere he's been -- in college, the minors, the big leagues. Forget that one doesn't hit .300 for nearly 400 at-bats -- as Shelton did -- and is normally a fluke. There've been some one-hit wonders, for sure, in baseball history, but that's not even the point here.
Chris Shelton doesn't have to hit .300 in 2006 to be a serviceable part of the lineup. My goodness, he's batting eighth. And the seven men ahead of him in the order are far more experienced, mostly, than Shelton, and those are the guys we should be concerned about.
Curtis Granderson is basically a rookie batting leadoff. Placido Polanco will bat second and will begin his first full season in the American League. Pudge Rodriguez will bat third and will try to rebound from a so-so 2005. Magglio Ordonez will bat fourth -- cleanup -- and if there's anyone who fans should wonder about, it's Maggs. Dmitri Young will bat fifth and he's had some injuries. Craig Monroe is the sixth hitter and this is the first spring camp he's attended where he's been guaranteed a job. Carlos Guillen will bat seventh -- as long as his knees and his back will allow.
And we should worry about little Chris Shelton?
First, Shelton will -- and you read it here first, folks -- hit no less than .280 this season. And second, even if he doesn't, it won't be all that far removed from that figure to matter, anyway. In other words, chill.
The beauty of the Tigers' lineup -- and when was the last time a sentence began THAT way? -- is that Shelton doesn't have to light it up for it to be successful and productive. Rather, he should be allowed to blend in and even work through a slow start, if that occurs. The seven hitters in front of him, if they're on their game, should make Shelton so much icing on the cake.
Big Red doesn't have to lead the majors in hits for a month, as he did last June. He doesn't have to be the Tigers' best hitter, as he was for much of last summer. If 1-thru-7 do their thing, he only has to relax and do what he does best: hit the baseball. At his pace.
Leave the #8 guy alone. Squawk about the seven dudes ahead of him, if you feel the need to worry about the hitters.
3 comments:
To me, the question is whether or not Shelton stays in the #8 spot throughout the season. I don't believe he will.
I think Leyland is savvy in initially presenting a lineup that shows confidence and respect for the veterans, while taking the pressure off the younger players.
But as some players, such as Pudge and Young, slide down the order, others like Shelton and Monroe will float up.
I agree that Leyland was smart to put Shelton at #8. I, also, wouldn't be surprised to see him much higher when all is said and done.
Ozz:
What's ST?
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