San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy penciled Joe Panik into the leadoff spot in the batting order for the first time on April 28.
Steven Duggar had seen the bulk of the action in the leadoff role and Kevin Pillar had also batted first a handful of times, but neither player was providing enough offensively to justify that spot in the order.
Still, it was a bold move, considering Panik was hitting just .183/.263/.268 and mired in a 2-for-18 slump at the time.
That’s the beauty of baseball. It doesn’t always have to make sense.