So often in life, we get caught up in titles that are supposed to define who we are, or at the very least, what we do…
The other day, my wife was defining the “traditional” role of each hitter in the lineup to our kids.
She talked about how the leadoff hitter was usually fast, takes a lot of pitches and gets on base. She then spoke about the number 2 hitter being able to put the ball in play and move the runner over while the 3, 4 & 5 hitters are supposed to drive the runners in… 6, 7 & 8 hitters are the wildcards that usually aren’t as consistent as the top of the lineup but never underestimate their capabilities because oftentimes they possess the most raw talent on the team… The 9 hitter is usually seen as the double leadoff man with a responsibility to get on base for the dudes at top of the order…
Yes, for years we have pigeonholed a certain type of hitter for each slot, but in recent times we have seen managers step outside of the box and creatively try new things by putting nonprototypical hitters into traditional batting order positions…
We have seen the classic cleanup hitter hit lead off the same way we have seen a typical leadoff hitter hit cleanup..
Throughout the course of my career, I literally would hit leadoff one day, 4th the next and then 9th the following day… Early on I found myself trying to play to the role… If I were leading off, I would try to take more pitches and if I were hitting 4th, I would try to hit more homers… When I hit 9th, I would wonder what I did to piss the manager off…
As a matter of fact, my first professional game was in Portland, Oregon and when the lineup was posted, I saw my name in the 9th position of the batting order… Perplexed, I went straight to our manager Greg Sparks’ office and insisted he must have made a mistake… I had never hit 9th in my life.
His response…
“Be happy you aren’t hitting 10th.”
Point well taken and as I got older, I could care less what position of the batting order I was hitting, all that mattered was that I was in the lineup… Regardless of where I was hitting, I also learned to play my game and not let where I was in order to dictate my approach. Ultimately, this mentality was mentally liberating and allowed me to have success up & down the lineup.
Next time somebody tries to label us or we end up labeling ourselves, let’s slap ourselves in the face, kick ourselves in the balls and go back to focusing on the only 4 things within our control:
Attitude,
Effort,
Preparation, and
Execution…
Oh yea, and lets be happy we aren’t hitting 10th.
-EB