THE New York Mets The embarrassment of choice with regard to the top of their range, and the manager Carlos Mendoza said he “leaned” towards the shotor of Juan Soto behind Francisco Lindor. But should they?
This is a problem that all the teams dream of having, although it is rare that more than a handful of teams do. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves are the only other MLB teams at the moment with a plethora of options to choose to build the top of their range.
The dishes created this enigma when they added Soto on the largest contract in the history of professional sports, then found Pete Alonso in early February. While Mendoza thinks he traced it, is this plan the right way to take?
Carlos Mendoza tells @gappplesny That he is currently leaning on to strike Francisco Lindor in mind and Juan Soto second in alignment.
Attend the completed interview tonight on Mets Hot Stove!
⏰: 6 p.m.
📺: Sny pic.twitter.com/8o4ntgq6ef– Sny Mets (@sny_mets) February 19, 2025
“We can say that Soto will go two,” said Mendoza after asking if it was right to assume that Lindor was going to leave. “The right thing is that we have excellent options. There are many different ways of being able to go.”
This has led to many large -scale discussions on social networks and from the speaking heads of sports programs, everyone is weighed on the way they believe that the range should be built. The debates range from the longtime belief of a basic guy (SOTO) leading to the new philosophy that your best striker (always SOTO) should be in the two holes. Some even asked for the cleaning of Soto.
Harold offers its optimal programming after the manager Carlos Mendoza said he was leaning over to Juan Soto hit 2nd behind Francisco Lindor. What do you think?#Mlbnhostove pic.twitter.com/n2onxsptkb
– MLB Network (@Mlbnetwork) February 20, 2025
“I would make him hit behind Soto, “Harold Reynolds said about the question of the morning program of the MLB network” Hot Stove “.” I must have someone reminiscent of this other team. Right now … I’m walking Soto in a number of scenarios. I bring my bad right, and I go after pete, I will after (Mark) come. “”
While many weighed on the issue, without a clear agreement, which is right? There is merit on both sides of the discussion, but the construction of the programming in 2025, when statistics and analyzes are freely and easily available for all, is a science.
Ryan Spaeder, author of the Incredible Baseball Statistics Book: the coolest and strangest statistics and facts in the history of baseball, has taken a look at the striker situations through 2024 to see what the form of the training faced the most important situations. Its results were surprising.
The best player on each team should start in every game.
In 2024, through the MLB, the head strikers had 10,711 plaques appearances with the potential to link the match or take the lead – 957 more than three holes of strikers. This includes additional opportunities …
– Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceoffaeder) January 3, 2025
“In 2024, through the MLB, the head strikers had 10,711 plaques appearances with the potential to link the game or take the lead – 957 more than three holes. This includes additional opportunities in high -level scenarios.”
While many can look at that and say: “Well, of course! The head striker takes the first match in the stick of the match for his team!” It goes even further than that. The striker leading to the range continues to have the highest opportunities throughout the game.
|
Number of opportunities to link the game or take the lead |
Leading |
Third programming striker |
|---|---|---|
|
Whole game |
10.711 |
9,754 |
|
After the first round |
6 1330 |
5,426 |
|
From the seventh round on |
1 921 |
1,751 |
|
Of the ninth round on |
685 |
604 |
With the headache by seeing more important score opportunities, it is logical that the best striker of a team is beating in this position. The Dodgers followed this route with Ohtani (after Mookie Betts made the injured list) last year, and the dishes also used the strategy with Lindor in 2024.
Although Lindor was the best striker of the team last year, this is no longer the case with Juan Soto on the list. Not only is SOTO the team’s best striker, but he is also the best versatile thickness in sport with his ability to strike for power, the average and the best plate discipline that MLB has seen for years.
Find out more: Juan Soto surprises his teammate with a car after exchange
While Mendoza can currently look to stick to what worked in 2024 and the Lindor striker in the head position, as a whole, over the length of the season, the dishes would be better served with Soto at this place.
The difference in success may seem negligible, and it could certainly be in a small sample size. The duration of a season of 162 games, however, this negligible success addresses, and this could prove to be the difference between finishing with the first berth in the national league or completely miss.
