Cleveland Indians’ ideal lineup to close out the 2020 season

The Cleveland Indians are beginning to experiment with lineup changes down the stretch, so what would be the team’s ideal lineup?

With the home stretch of the 2020 season coming up, the Cleveland Indians are starting to try new looks in the lineup to find the spark they desperately need.

The Indians’ offense has struggled all season long and various attempts to create runs have all fallen short. The team attempted to add new pieces heading into the season, called up prospects and made a deadline trade, but all the avenues became dead ends as the team has struggled at the plate.

As a team entering Saturday’s slate of games, the Indians held the fourth lowest batting average, the third lowest slugging percentage and the fifth fewest runs scored in all of baseball. Of all the major batting categories, the Tribe are in the bottom third of the league for all them, except walks which they have the third most in Major League Baseball.

In a tight divisional race in the last leg of the season, the Cleveland Indians need to find their ideal lineup. We’re well past the point of adding pieces, so now the focus is finding the best combination of the players at hand.

Using the typical starting lineup that the Indians have been rolling out, I went through and tried to pinpoint the best lineup to produce more notches in the win column as Cleveland tries to capture the AL Central title.

From what I’ve learned coming from a baseball family as both a player and fan, there are a few key components to creating a strong lineup. The lead-off hitter needs to get on base one way or another and the two-hole needs to get the lead-off guy over. The third spot is usually the team’s best hitter while cleanup belongs to the most dangerous. The fifth batter in the lineup needs to be the best remaining to protect the cleanup hitter.

From there, really the six and nine holes are the most important. The six spot needs to act as a second lead-off hitter to get it all going again and the ninth batter needs to be fast enough to not slow down the rest of the order when it flips over. The seventh and eighth are really just used to fill out the order and work against pitching matchups.

Using that framework, here’s what I came up with for the Tribe.

First Base, Switch Hitter

Although he doesn’t have the appearance of a lead-off batter, Carlos Santana is the best fit to be at the top of the Indians’ batting order, and he’s done it before.

Santana was atop the Indians’ order during the 2017 season, the season that recorded the best winning percentage in Cleveland over the last 20 years and ended in a divisional title. For Santana, it proved to be a successful season that resulted in his contract with Philadelphia before coming back to Cleveland in 2019.

As the first batter in 2017, Santana posted impressive numbers for the duration of the season. Despite drawing a career-low 88 walks, Santana still maintained a .363 OBP and an .818 OPS.

This year, Santana began the year with a near impossible walk rate that put him into some record books. Heading into Saturday night’s game against the Twins, Santana had drawn 38 walks over 45 games. That tally has helped him to the second highest OBP on the team currently at .356.

Now, Santana’s average hasn’t been the best at just .195, but his ability to get on base is what is important here. Although it might not be via hits, Santana gets on base at a high rate compared to the rest of the team and you need runners to score early.

Second Base, Switch Hitter

Having been in the lead-off spot for most of the season, Cesar Hernandez has provided a bright spot as an off-season addition for the Cleveland Indians.

Atop the order for most of the season, Hernandez has logged an AL-high 201 plate appearances entering Saturday night. However, there are two reasons that Hernandez is best fit for the two-hole.

As I originally said, the job of the second batter in the lineup is to move the lead-off batter into position to score, or just score them all together. To do that, the ball needs to be in-play or deep enough in the outfield to result in a tag at second.

There’s a stat called BAbip, batting average on balls in play. For that stat, Hernandez is logging .336, which is second on the team. Here is the formula: (Hits-Home Runs) / (At-Bats – Strikeouts – – Home Runs + Sacrifice Flies). Essentially, it helps illustrate who can get balls into the field, which can translate to runners advancing, while also indicating that double plays aren’t common against that batter.

A more understandable and common stat that Hernandez produces is doubles. With 15 doubles entering Saturday’s game, Hernandez is currently leading the American League in the category.

Whether it be a ball in-play or a double, Hernandez has the ability to be an ideal two-spot batter who can give the Indians an early lead.

Third Base, Switch Hitter

Typically the third spot in the batting order is meant for the team’s best hitter in the lineup and for the Indians, it isn’t exactly Jose Ramirez. However, given what Ramirez brings to the table, he’s the best fit for this spot while not being the club’s top bat across the board.

The upside to having Ramirez in the third spot in the order is his switch hitting ability. Having the top three batters in the lineup as switch hitters can provide a difficult situation for opposing teams to game plan around, especially out of the bullpen.

While Ramirez’s averages and percentages don’t top the team lists, he is currently pacing the Tribe in a few stats going into Saturday’s game. He has 10 home runs on the year, with five from each side of the plate, as well as team-highs in RBIs with 27, runs scored at 32 and nine stolen bases.

What Ramirez brings to the plate almost always has the ability to change the course of a game with just a swing of the bat. That’s what every team needs in the three-spot, a game changer. When at his peak, Ramirez has the ability to lead the Indians in all the major hitting categories and that is what an ideal third batter can do.

Shortstop, Switch Hitter

In all honesty, putting Francisco Lindor in the fifth spot in the batting order just felt wrong. But, as much as we love Frankie, it’s difficult to deny that he is having a down season compared to what we’ve come to know from him.

Although he normally would be a shoe-in for the top third of the order, Lindor’s small slip this season falls perfectly into what a five-hole batter should bring to the lineup.

The key component of this spot in the order is to make the dangerous fourth batter even more dangerous by refusing an avenue of pitching around them. When it comes to lineup security blankets, Lindor would make one of the best in the league.

This year, Lindor is batting just .274 with a .337 on-base percentage, both near career-lows for him thus far in the majors. When those stats begin to rise, and I’m confident in saying they will, he would bring pop to the middle of the order that can get the bottom half going.

Putting a switch hitter, like Lindor, behind Reyes also makes pitching matchups harder to plan for opposing managers. It’s not often that the guy who is regarded as the team’s best player is slotted in at the fifth spot, but given his struggles and what he could ultimately bring to the lineup, this is where Lindor belongs.

Right Field, Left-Handed Hitter

This is where the lineup gets really difficult to work with for the Cleveland Indians. Their bottom four batters are all struggling and have had little upside.

Of those left, Tyler Naquin has shown a bit of a bright side to his approach at the plate, going on a brief hot streak. Although that has cooled, he is still the best fit for this spot.

As I said on the first slide, the six and ninth hole batters are the only important ones left in this part of the order and Naquin could fall into either. He has the speed that he wouldn’t slow down the lead-off batter on the bases, but his average is enough to give him six spot qualities.

After going through the meat of the order, the sixth batter’s job is to act as a second lead-off hitter and just get on base. Naquin hasn’t been the best at that with an OBP of just .260, but with what’s left, it’ll have to do.

The positive is that if Naquin can catch fire again, he then becomes the protector in the lineup for Lindor, making the meat of the order even more of a problem for opposing pitchers to try and work around.

Catcher, Right-Handed Hitter

The seventh and eighth spots in the Cleveland Indians’ batting order are really interchangeable as both batters bring similar attributes to the table. The deciding factor was from which side of the plate each swings.

Being a right-handed hitter, Roberto Perez creates an alternating left-right-left-right for the last four batters in the lineup which is a big plus for the part of the lineup that usually doesn’t do much. That back-and-forth makes it difficult for opposing bullpens, especially with the new three-batter minimum.

In a limited 20 games from injuries, Perez is slashing just .177/.282/.242 which isn’t ideal for the seventh spot in the lineup, but as we’ll find out, it doesn’t get much better in the next slot in the order. However, like the players ahead of him, Perez has an upside of what could be.

What Perez does bring as another plus is a catcher with offensive potential. It hasn’t shown yet this season, but last year Perez knocked a career-high 24 home runs and 63 RBI. Having not found a rhythm yet this year, Perez could return to that a bit as his playing time regulates again, which would fit perfectly into this spot in the batting order.

Left Field, Left-Handed Hitter

Normally the eighth spot in the order is given to the team’s worst hitter, contrary to popular belief that the nine spot is the worst in the lineup. The nine hole is what turns the lineup over to the top, so momentum can be key there. As for the eighth spot, not so much.

I wouldn’t go as far to say that Josh Naylor is the worst hitter in the lineup for the Indians, he just hasn’t found his stride since arriving at the deadline, still searching for his first home run with the Tribe.

Even so, when it comes to statistics, Naylor is technically the worst hitter in the lineup of those that are common starters. Going into Saturday’s contest, Naylor was slashing just .167/.194/.167 since arriving in Cleveland. His stats from San Diego are much better, but until they return to that level, this is where Naylor belongs in the lineup, if he belongs at all.

Naylor could be a candidate to be replaced in the lineup if one of the other outfielders begins to catch on, like Oscar Mercado has started to since returning from the alternate site.

If that becomes the case, then Mercado could make sense in the sixth spot with Naquin and Perez bumping down one spot each, maintaining a right-left-right alternation from the six, seven and eight spots.

Center Field, Right-Handed Hitter

There’s a few spots that Delino DeShields could slot into for the Indians, but the ninth spot is the best fitting for his skill set. Being a batter that can lay down bunts and steal bases while also having the occasional home run is ideal for the last spot.

After you get through the top five in the order, DeShields is really the best of the bunch that is left over, having a .316 OBP. If he can get on base at the bottom of the order, then it makes it that much easier for the top of the order to be effective.

Instead of Santana just trying to get on base, he becomes the second runner on base. Instead of Hernandez trying to get Santana into scoring position, he’s trying to get DeShields home, and so on. In reality, the roles don’t change, it just becomes easier to produce runs by doing the same thing.

If DeShields can get on base once or twice a game from the nine-hole, that is more than enough to be a solid play from that part of the order. He most likely won’t win the game for the Indians, but he can very easily be a part of the reason why the Indians win, which is perfect for the last spot in the order.