“Why is Mike Ford batting fifth?”
I’m sure many of you have scratched your heads on that one many times this year.
Ford has 72 plate appearances this season — 14 of which have been in the five-hole and 27 of which have been in the six-hole. That’s 57 percent of his plate appearances hitting in the middle of the order. Ford is hitting .133.
Obviously, it’s not just Ford, but it reflects the entire philosophy. I can guarantee that the only reason Ford is hitting fifth is that he is a lefty and we need to split up the righties.