I’m writing this article at the extreme risk of being thrown into the “lineup micromanagers” section of White Sox Twitter, because that’s exactly what’s forthcoming.
The logic that drives this lineup formulation comes from the renowned baseball analytics book, The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball in which Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman and Andrew Dolphin devote a chapter to addressing optimal batting order strategy.
Back in July 2020, I attempted to use this same framework to optimize Ricky Renteria’s Opening Day lineup. I proposed Yasmani Grandal as the leadoff hitter and relegated Tim Anderson, who was the reigning American League batting champion at the time, to the 6-spot.