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Jordan Luplow and the upside of platoons

Ryan Raburn probably wasn’t my favorite Indian in 2013 when he posted a 151 OPS+ in 277 plate appearances. I was probably more into Carlos Santana even then. Raburn certainly wasn’t my favorite in 2015 either, when he hit .301 and logged a 148 OPS+ in 201 PA’s. That was a Brantley year. Both hose years though, he’d have been the best hitter on the team had he just been a qualified hitter.

That’s the magic of the platoon hitter — he assaults opposite hand pitchers and doesn’t get any notice on leader boards, like he doesn’t exist anywhere but in nightmares of LOOGYs.