Just a Thought

Fred Lewis has arguably been the Giants' best hitter this year. He leads the team with a .916 OPS and is second with 12 extra-base hits. These numbers led me to wonder if, in this power-starved offense, he wouldn't be better-suited batting in the middle of the order, with third seeming the best possibility.

I started thinking about this last night, when I saw Randy Winn, the team's current number three hitter, attempt to bunt his way aboard not once, but twice in the same at-bat. Winn has not hit any home runs this season and he is slugging just .326. I still believe Winn can be a valuable part of this lineup, but his days as a run producer are well behind him. Why not move him into the two spot, bat Lewis third, and make Eugenio Velez the regular second basemen and leadoff man. I can think of a couple arguments against this:

• At .367, Lewis has the second highest batting average out of the leadoff spot in the National League. He's demonstrated the ability to get on base, critical for a leadoff hitter, with a .405 overall on-base percentage (.432 batting first). Why screw up a good thing?
• While Velez has the blazing speed to be a leadoff hitter, he has not demonstrated the ability to get on base consistently. He has just a .280 OBP, and has a tendency to wave at breaking balls in the dirt.

These are both legitimate arguments. But in a rebuilding year, what do we have to lose? I think that, given consistent playing time, Lewis will produce wherever he is in the lineup. And perhaps, given consistent playing time, Velez will develop into a dynamic leadoff hitter. If we try it out for a couple weeks and it doesn't work out, then we can go back to the way it is now. But at this point, I think anything that gives us a chance to score more runs is worth a shot.