Tigers spring training: Prince Fielder, Miguel Cabrera have instant chemistry

[The Truman Show]

To elaborate further on the 4 spot, Cabrera had 688 PAs last year, with 344 coming with men on, and 178 leading off. That leaves only 166 PAs where Miggy is in a bad hitting situation (no on, 1 or 2 out), excepting a handful where the 3 hitter knocked a dinger with no outs in front of him. Over 75% of PAs are in good situations. I'd be really surprised if the same was true of the #3 hitter.

Unfortunately, 3 spot was pretty much a revolving door in 2011, so using the splits to compare is pretty difficult. I'm really looking forward to being able to run this again in 2012 to see if it bears out. Who knows, maybe I'll end up being full of it?

[tiger337]

Because 4th is putting your best hitter in better hitting positions more often. 4th hitter rarely sees no on, 2 out, if he comes up in the first inning he will almost always have a guy on, and if he leads off an inning, he's very likely to make something happen and make that inning productive. Miggy scored a run every 6 PAs last year, and leading off it was a run every 4. The value of his astronomical OBP leading off an inning should not be discounted.

I don't think there is anything magical about the #4 spot. I believe it depends on team personnel. I want the best hitter batting immediately in back of the guys that get on base most often. The reason why #3 is statistically not the best place to put your best hitter is because a lot of teams have a low OBP bat control guy batting second. If your team doesn't do that, then the optimal line-up could be different.

[DaYooperASBDT]

I think Liston is on to something. Maybe good hitting isn't necessarily contagious, but poor hitting could be - if your "star" hitter starts to press or think about home runs.