Michael Busch boasts a .267/.363/.510 slash line with 11 homers and a 146 wRC+ that puts him eighth among all first basemen when it comes to creating runs. Yet he’ll sit in back-to-back games and has only gotten 34 plate appearances against left-handed pitchers while Justin Turner picks up semi-regular starts despite a 67 wRC+ that is less than half that of his younger counterpart.
When we just look at the box score numbers, the math doesn’t make much sense.
If we take a quick look at the splits, however, Craig Counsell‘s strategy becomes transparent.