Reese Kaplan -- How Sabermetrics Changed Lineup Construction

For many of us who have been watching baseball addictively since we were young children, there have been a great many changes to the game.  Yes, we now have Designated HItters in both leagues.  We have the silly overtime rule with a runner on second base to start the 10th inning.  We have pitch clocks.  We have a variety of other major and minor changes that affect how a club puts together its lineup and its game plan.

What is perhaps a bit slower for us to resolve in our heads is how batting orders are now created as compared to say 30 years ago.  If you grade players on various offensive abilities on a scale of 1-5 with ratings being assigned for their batting average, their home run power, their ability to draw walks and how well they steal bases, it would appear that lineups are now constructed very differently. 

Look no further than the current New York Mets lineup to see that they took a guy who is a positive across the board in all of these categories and inserted him not in the middle-of-the-lineup run producing position, but instead you have Francisco Lindor leading off games which means his first at-bat is a bit of a giveaway in terms of driving in runners. 

If you look back to Mets lineups of the past you had guys who were speed burners as your leadoff hitter — Roger Cedeno, Rickey Henderson, Mookie Wilson and others of that ilk.  True, Henderson had some home run power, but the others were there for their ability to get on base and cause stress to the opposing pitcher, catcher and defense once they arrived at first. 

Nowadays the more one dimensional hitters have moved further down in the lineup where they can still provide on base talent and base running havoc but they are not being asked to set the table as they once were.

Look again at the current Mets lineup and the $765 million dollar man is not batting cleanup, but instead is inserted at the number two position in the order.  While these changes for Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor mean they come up more frequently, often at the start of games it also means there is no one on base for them to help score.  In the past you would have seen high contact hitters in the number two slot, but that trend has faded away.

Interestingly Pete Alonso who was never known for his batting average nor his ability to get on base nor formidable running speed has now been pushed into the number three slot in the order where in the past you’d typically slot your best overall hitter but not necessary the guy on whom you count for the long balls.  Ironically he is hitting for a higher average than ever before during April.

Then after Alonso you had a mix of Mark Vientos, Jesse Winker and others taking the cleanup position which was even stranger given their poor batting averages and run production early in the 2025 season.   

Another change is in the bottom of the order which nowadays is regarded as what was once the leadoff and second place hitters.  They are there to get on base, run the bases and provide RBI opportunities for your superstar number one and number two hitters.

Oddly, though, for a club struggling to hit and drive in runs the club currently has the best record in baseball, so maybe there is something to these new lineup permutations.