Why Frank Thomas should hit leadoff!

we should not only hit thomas leadoff, but intentionally run off whatever runners we have on whenever thomas gets up. then he will simply hit a home run every time.

I bet you that if there would be a least recommended diary, this one would win by a landslide. That's doesn't mean I'm not right. Look how "The Club" mocks Moneyball. Those who look at and trust numbers will never be taken seriously.

Make that SIX Homers when leading off, and the worse stats in baseball when he's not. It's clear that Frank has a mental block. Let him hit leadoff for 10 games until he gets his damn groove back.

Franks new stats for 0 on 0 out are .367/.467/.967/1.433 6 HR in 30 AB He's hitting a homerun in 20% of his at bats. Let him hit leadoff, so that he'll get 43% of hit PA in a 0 on/0 out situation, just like Ichiro.

you are refusing to listen to what others are saying. salb pointed out that as things are, frank thomas is getting just as many ab's as a "leadoff" hitter as he would at #1.  

Not to mention, he has a much bigger upside in the middle of the order than at the beginning.  Why hit him behind somebody like kendall?  That merely insures that "the big hurt" will be reduced to something like a stubbed toe.   He wouldn't get rbi situations... which, historically, he has come through in.  

I think he struggles right now because he is pressing.  He hears the hype surrounding him, and expects to come through in big situations.  Consequently, when he bats leadoff, there is no pressure, he just swings the bat.  Putting him at leadoff just shows him that we don't have confidence in him, leading me to believe he would press even harder, and struggle even more.

want to add a few;

• Frank is so big he is able to just throw the bat at the ball and knock them for HRs.
  
• In 2006 the ball he connects with is grooved down the middle and most power capable A's have the same HR ability when it is a mistake pitch.
  
• HR hitters use their legs, Swisher, Chavez, Crosby, Giambi, Tejada, Frank used to.
  
• Frank can't or won't use his legs. His "fear" is what can happen if he overuses his legs.
  
• Frank does not hit more HRs because the bases are empty. He hits more because opposing pitchers take more chances and lose focus when the bases are void.
  
• With RISP pitchers will take fewer chances prefering to throw junk and take the walk or strike out rather than let one swing end their game. (Frank's high OBP and weak swings)
  
• The radio criticized Frank's poor use of the strike zone and they were right about that. He swings at bad pitches a lot so pitchers throw bad pitches a lot.
  
• If you look at any other HR hitter they stand up straight, bat cocked, legs bent at the knees, ready to drive the ball.
  
• Frank stoops over more than most and sets himself up for swinging at off the plate junk.

1. Are Franks legs keeping him from being a success? Answer yes or no. Going by my eyes only I say yes.
2. Would opposing pitchers be most apt to groove a pitch to the first batter? I say "yes", I think most pitchers are working on location into the 2nd & 3rd innings.
3.Would Frank get in the way of batters behind him. I say yes and on top of that I'd guess that he might possibly hurt himself trying to stay ahead of them.

Here is the question you jumped over;
What would happen to HR/power production if Frank were guaranteed his ups at #3?.
$ Swisher - Too hot not too!
L Chavez - Earlier appearance might be the rejuvenator
R Frank "Nitty" the enforcer
L Kotsay - smart situational batter to move "Nitty" along.
R Crosby - Damn good when he enforces the strike zone
L DJ/R JP - Where did these guys go?
R Ellis - Needs a hot streak
$ Melhuse - nice hot streaks! doubles a good idea in front of;
R Kendall

You. Are. Wrong. Frank THomas has ridiculous numbers with the bases empty. So what? First, there is the small sample size issue. Second, there is the issue of people on this site looking at meaningless sstatistics all the time. If you look at fifty Frank Thomas statistics (avg. in late inning games, avg. in day games, avg. in seventh innings of tuesday double headers), which people on this site do, you'll end up finding some gaudy numbers.  If he has a great avg in late innings, someone will say we shoud use him exclusively as a pinch hitter. If he does well in day games, someone should say we should only play him in day games. Simiarly, if everyone on AN was asked to flip a coin 100 times, chances are one of us would get something like 70 heads. Knowing the other members of this site, we would them dub him the luckiest man in the universe and talk about his amazing ability to flip heads. Over the past 3 years, Frank Thomas has hit .414 when the count is 1-1, but only .235 after a count of 1-1. You don't see diaries saying how Frank Thomas should swing at every 1-1 pitch. That's just silly.

I have just one thing to say: BRING BACK DURAZO!

A statistic that satisfies your ridiculous criteria that ones OPS must be seven times higher in a certain situation to be meaningful (and it wasn't even that hard to find).

In his career at Busch Stadium, Albert Pujols's ops is 1.082. In his career at Arlington Park (one of the best hitters' parts in the league), his OPS is .143. Keep in mind, I'm using a sample size of 882 At Bats (868 in Busch Stadium, 14 in Arlington).

Conclusions: Let's say your the GM of the Texas Rangers, and Walt Jocketty calls you up offering Albert Pujols for Kevin Mench. No way in hell you make that deal. Clearly, Albert Pujols has some mental block whenever he plays in Arlington.

But wait, you say. Thta logic is ridiculous! It doesn't make any sense! Obviously if you look at Pujols's numbers in every park you're going to be able to find a park he's hit poorly in in a really small sample size!

Well, yes. yes you can. If Frank Thomas was mentally incapable of producing with runners on base, he probably wouldn't have 1500 career RBIs.