Good morning! Roman Anthony has been on fire since finally finishing his rehab assignment. In his five games since returning he has slashed .455/.500/.909 with 2 homers, 2 doubles, and a triple. He is so good that he is somehow 5th on the team in position player bWAR despite being 16th in games played.
But there is one stat he’s lagging behind on this week: he has just 2 RBI, both of which came on his two solo shots.
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This raises the question: should the Sox consider batting him somewhere other than leadoff?
On one hand, you don’t want to mess with what’s working. And it goes without saying that a hitter who gets on base as much as he does is exactly what you want at the top of the order. But it is worth considering the obvious fact that production with the bases empty doesn’t help the team as much as production with someone on.
Moreover, the Sox do have a pretty good candidate to take that leadoff spot: Nick Sogard has posted a .368 OBP since returning to the big leagues in late July, with 21 walks and 9 doubles in 34 games. It’s hard not to salivate at the thought of Anthony hitting with Sogard already on second ahead of him.
Talk about the batting order and whatever else you want in this space and, as always, be good to one another.
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