Batting lineup never the same

During my son's senior year, after the first few games, the line up stabilized and only varied depending on which pitcher was on the mound.  Basically our ace pitcher was the lead off batter whether he was pitching, DH'ing or playing outfield (rare).  If the #2 or #3 pitcher were pitching, the usually were DH'd for.  My son ended up #2 batter in the lineup though I recall some games where he was in #3 in the lineup.  The rest of the lineup consistently stayed the same.  I think there may have been a few games where #6-#9 in the line up varied, but the 1-5 slots were solid.

 

If a team is struggling, I can certainly understand the lineup getting juggled, but if the team is doing well, I would think it would stabilize at some point.

May I ask what's your son's team overall record?

Read the Tony La Russa book "3 Nights in August" and you will have your answer on

setting lineups.

 

This is a beautiful book on the "inside the mind of a manager". I can guarantee any coach 3 wins after you read and understand this informative book.

 

Bob

Goodwill Series

30 years International Baseball

       
       

10-4

It seems you have certainly been around HS ball long enough to know that is not the norm, particularly if you have/keep the book.  That said, there could be lots of reasons he is doing what he is doing... it's working, competition is healthy, injuries, eligibility, discipline, keeps the boys fighting to be moved up, going with who's hot, have them all think they are "hitters" instead of "leadoff" or "clean-up" type hitters, they earn their line-up spot during the week at practice, move the P down or out of the lineup etc, etc.

You have always seemed involved with your son's games.  What do you think the reason is?  Is it primarily the bottom half or up and down that changes?

This year, we have pretty much settled with 1-5 but have juggled the lower half with player and order a fair amount.  There have been years where it was more difficult to find the right fits at the top as well, even when winning a lot.

Its mostly the bottom part of the lineup. Its true that I am no stranger to baseball but for me I find it to be a sign that coaches may not know much about setting up stability in an offense. We have found the regular 9 guys who have proved themselves. But one bad game and you get shuffled it seems. There have been quite a few games where the offense has really struggled and players get blamed by coaches for slackness. But 14 different lineups with a team whose overall average and OBP is near the top in their conference tells another story.

I agree with Cabbage.  My lineup 1-6 is set pretty much in stone.  However, 7-9 to get juggled.  Typically with me it has to do with who is getting DHed for.  My 7-9 hitters are all hitting around .250, so I will juggle them based on how productive their at bats were the game before or the week before.  I do not like DHing for the same kid all year but on the other hand I do not like kids to have to many games off without swinging the at bats. 

Our team has played 18 games this season and we’ve never had the same lineup 2 games in a row. Its been that way every season I’ve scored HSB. We’ve played 2 3 game league series so far, and our opponents have yet to put the same lineup on the field as well.

 

The way it generally works is, at the beginning the lineups are changing all the time because the coach is trying to integrate at least 5 players who weren’t starters the previous season. The coach has to try to figure out who he wants to play in the field and where he wants them to play. Then he has to figure out how the guys he plays best fit together to score runs. That means a lot of moving up and down and in and out.

 

With each game, the lineup gets solidified more and more, but its still not unusual to change things around when one of the pieces isn’t quite fitting. Actually, this season has been one of the most stable as far as lineups go, but I’m never surprised when there’s a major change.