Everyone knew the 2020 season would bring many things we weren’t accustomed to. However, one thing that I guarantee most fans didn’t see coming was Dave Roberts or the front office’s refusal to bat Mookie Betts exclusively in the leadoff spot. When the Dodgers acquired the superstar in the offseason, and then locked him up for potentially the rest of his career with a record breaking extension, it was absolutely shocking to see Max Muncy batting first on Opening Day. The experiment didn’t last long (five games to be exact) and despite a .346 OBP, Muncy only batted .150 and had a .546 OPS. In those five games, Muncy failed to reach base to open up the game.
Unfortunately, it didn’t stop there. The Dodgers went back to a familiar name in the leadoff spot: Joc Pederson. Roberts does bat Betts in the leadoff spot against left-handed starters, but those have become a rare sighting for the Dodgers this season. So far batting Pederson first against righties has been detrimental. Roberts is essentially allowing a free out every time the lineup turns over. This season Pederson is batting .167 with 1 home run and 2 walks when he leads off in the first inning. Overall in the leadoff spot this year, Pederson is 2-for-25 (.080), with a .207 OBP, a .407 OPS and a .050 BAbip. Pederson belongs in the seven-hole. Why? In 2020, Pederson has 2 HRs, a .380 OBP and a .992 OPS batting seventh.
What about Mookie Betts in 2020? Well, he’s hitting .333 with a .417 OBP and .988 OPS in a limited five-game sample when he’s in the one-spot.
“Salty Dave,” as some people are calling him now, gave this response when people called him out,
“Certainly you talk about the leadoff hitter, the role, the spark — I absolutely understand that,” Roberts said. “But you look up and down our lineup, there’s really not anyone swinging the bat considerably well. So just to have Mookie in the leadoff role I don’t think makes everybody in the order get hot.”
The excuses from Roberts need to stop. This isn’t the only data that proves Pederson is not a good leadoff hitter. Last season, Roberts had Pederson leadoff nearly the entire year. Pederson batted .250, had a .342 OBP, an .894 OPS, while his BAbip was low at .242. However, he did have a monster amount of home runs with 33. Those are respectable numbers, but what about in 2018 when he only had a .300 on base percentage in the leadoff spot? He batted .309 when leading off the game, but his average fell to .218 after his first at bat in those games. The Dodgers offense was inconsistent most of that season anyway.
Ultimately, none of that is truly comparable with Betts. In 2019, Betts had a .326 batting average to leadoff a game, a .941 OPS and had 13 extra-base hits. Overall, batting first, he had a .375 OBP, hit .283 and had 117 hits.
Now, compare that to Betts’ MVP season. In 2018, he had a .439 OBP, batted .346 with 32 home runs, and a .368 BAbip. He also had five leadoff home runs. Mookie knows it, the fans know it, and probably even some of the coaches know it, which is: Mookie Betts must hit in the leadoff spot every game. The stubbornness and effort to prove us wrong needs to end because it just won’t happen.
This is what Mookie Betts had to say entering the season about batting first.
“I’d like to hit in one spot. I don’t like moving around, Betts said. “I think it’s just a comfort level for me. I can only speak for myself, to know that every day I’m going to be in the lineup, batting first.”
Roberts had a very different tone this past offseason when discussing the subject of Betts leading off.
“That’s where he feels comfortable and that’s where we’re at right now,” Roberts told the Orange County Register in February.
Betts has done nothing to suggest batting leadoff isn’t where he belongs. The fans are fed up with the tinkering of these lineups. In a 60-game season, where every game counts, it’s time to stop screwing around. With that being said, watch Pederson hit a leadoff home run tonight.