UWHabs
Well-known member
trying to balance out this year's hot hitting with last year's stats.....
2yr wRC+
SS Bichette 151 (.370babip)
2B Biggio 117
LF Gurriel 125
RF Teoscar 117
DH Guerrero 105
1B Tellez 101
3B Villar 101
CF Grichuk 95
C Jansen 69 (.215babip)
UT Shaw 63 - McKinney 82
OF Fisher 83 - Davis 54
IF Panik 80 - Espinal 56
C Joseph 53 - McGuire 73
Still looks good.
Yeah, I think the biggest change really is Teoscar coming into his own. Vlad slowing down hurts, but if you can run a top-5 in the lineup who are all solidly above average, that pushes the hitters like Tellez, Grichuk, etc... down in the order giving you the depth you need. That one extra hitter just gives you a little more lineup depth to play with, and it means that if one of the top guys is hurt or taking a day off, you don't have to throw Grichuk cleanup or something like that.
The other key is making sure that guys like Teoscar, Biggio, and Bichette can play decent enough defense. A 117 wRC+ doesn't mean much if you rock the massive negative fielding that Teoscar was at a few years ago, but if he can be only slightly below average in the field, that bat plays big. I don't think the current squad will ever be "good" defensively, but you need them to be "not terrible" to have a chance, and that's what they've been so far at least.