San Diego Padres: Theoretical Batting Order Ideas for Friars

The San Diego Padres have all but determined who will be coming to San Diego to start the year, outside of a few competitions left to be decided. Here are some batting order and lineup ideas.

As the MLB regular-season is set to begin, the San Diego Padres find themselves with a ton of talent, as young and inexperienced as they may be.

With the versatility and wide-range of skill-sets that this team brings to the table, there will be a ton of possibilities to take into account when Andy Green sits down and finalizes his Opening Day roster and starting lineup.

After the lineup is set, he must tackle the batting order. Again, with such a diverse group of skills on this team, there figures to be a lot of mixing and matching within the batting order as the year wears on.

Here is my projected Friars’ Opening Day roster; no surprises here.

P – Clayton Richard

C – Austin Hedges

1B – Eric Hosmer

2B – Carlos Asuaje

3B – Chase Headley

SS – Freddy Galvis

LF – Jose Pirela

CF – Manuel Margot

RF – Wil Myers

On days when this is the lineup, here’s the batting order I’d personally go with, which means absolutely nothing but is still fun to do:

Margot, Galvis, Hosmer, Myers, Pirela, Headley, Hedges, Asuaje, pitcher

The top-five in this batting order is self-explanatory. The reason I went with the order that I did for the six-thru-eight spots was to mix some power, pure-hitting, and speed into the back-end.

On days that Hunter Renfroe plays in the outfield (unless he’s replacing Myers in which he’d jump into the five-hole as well as in right field) and Pirela sits, here’s what that batting order could look like:

Margot, Galvis, Hosmer, Myers, Renfroe, Asuaje, Headley, Hedges, pitcher

I applied the same principles as I did in the first lineup to this one, but obviously changed some pieces around. I actually like Austin Hedges in the eight-hole, to be completely honest.

What-if’s for the San Diego Padres

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If Cory Spangenberg makes the team it adds yet another wrinkle. Since he can play second base and left-field (among other places), manager Andy Green could throw his entire lineup into flux if he chose to do so.

In this hypothetical setting, instead of Asuaje at second, Spangenberg takes his place, and Headley and Hosmer also get the day off. Here is a lineup and batting order that could theoretically be used:

1 – Freddy Galvis, SS

2 – Jose Pirela, LF

3 – Wil Myers, 1B

4 – Hunter Renfroe, RF

5 – Christian Villanueva, 3B

6 – Austin Hedges, C

7 – Cory Spangenberg, 2B

8 – pitcher’s spot

9 – Manuel Margot, CF

In this scenario, I’m experimenting with letting whoever’s pitching hit eighth and maximizing the speed and on-base capabilities of Margot and Galvis. With the multi-faceted game of Pirela, he could thrive in almost any spot Green could choose to use him in.

Hitting in the second spot, he could become an RBI-man for Margot and Galvis before him. With Myers hitting behind him, it would most definitely give him a ton of pitches to hit. Again, this is all hypothetical, but it sure is fun to imagine.

Next: FoB Speaks with Franmil Reyes

With the versatility and skill-level of the players on this roster, these couple of ideas are only the beginning of the possibilities for the San Diego Padres this season.

The San Diego Padres have all but determined who will be coming to San Diego to start the year, outside of a few competitions left to be decided. Here are some batting order and lineup ideas.

What-if’s for the San Diego Padres

More from Friars on Base

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