Cleveland Indians’ ideal lineup to close out the 2020 season

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.