At 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, Jason Heyward hardly profiles as a typical leadoff hitter.
Yet since Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez moved his hulking right fielder to the top of his batting order, the team hasn't lost. Twelve wins, zero losses. The Braves have put together a 13-game winning streak overall.
That success is due in some part to Heyward's thriving while batting first in the lineup. In 12 games batting leadoff, he's hit .311 with a .415 on-base percentage in 53 plate appearances. His OPS is .904. Perhaps surprisingly, Heyward hasn't stolen a base from the leadoff position. He was second on the team in steals last season.
But Heyward hasn't had to steal any bases either, because those hitting behind him have done an excellent job of driving him in. He's scored 16 runs in the leadoff role, thanks in large part to Justin Upton. Upton has been rejuvenated since Gonzalez moved him to the No. 2 spot in the lineup, batting .431 with a 1.304 OPS, five home runs and 13 RBI. Those look like the numbers Upton put up in April, when he looked like a NL MVP candidate to begin the season.
What's funny about Heyward's success in the leadoff spot is that Gonzalez fought putting one of his top run producers at the top of the order when he first became manager. In 2011, many fans and analysts pleaded with the skipper to move Heyward up to a position where he could get more plate appearances and arguably be more productive.
"I think the way the lineup is constructed is more important," Gonzalez said to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's David O'Brien in April 2011. "Then why don’t we lead off [Albert] Pujols? Or [Barry] Bonds? Lead ‘em off."
Oh, what a difference two years (and blowing a 9.5-game lead in the wild-card standings) makes.
Also interesting is that Gonzalez argued that batting Nate McLouth in the No. 2 spot at the time allowed him to see more fastballs and that could help turn him around. The Braves manager apparently stuck to that philosophy in moving Upton to second in the batting order. Seeing more fastballs from opposing pitchers has obviously ignited his game.
Perhaps the most presssing concern regarding the Braves going into the season was who would bat leadoff. For all the justifiable excitement over adding Justin and B.J. Upton to the lineup, losing Michael Bourn to free agency left a significant hole at the top of the batting order. Bourn is the prototypical leadoff batter, built at 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, with skills devoted to getting on base and stealing bases.
Who would replace Bourn? If the Braves wanted speed in the No. 1 spot, B.J. Upton seemed best suited for that. But hitting for a high average and getting on base were not among his strongest attributes. Besides, Atlanta signed him to a five-year, $75 million contract not only to replace Bourn's defense in center field, but to provide a right-handed power bat in the middle of the order.
Shortstop Andrelton Simmons looked like another candidate, especially after compiling a .335 on-base percentage in 182 plate appearances during last year's rookie season. In his young career, Simmons hasn't drawn many walks, but he doesn't strike out much either. In the minors, he also used his speed to steal some bases.
Unfortunately for the Braves, Simmons simply didn't perform in the leadoff role this season. In 294 plate appearances, he batted .222 with a .259 on-base percentage. His OPS was .598.
Gonzalez's change in philosophy and willingness to push Heyward to leadoff likely has more to do with the depth of the Braves' lineup this season as opposed to what he had in 2011. Back then, he worried that if he moved Heyward from sixth to second in the batting order, then there would be a hole toward the bottom of the lineup. Now, that's not as much of an issue.
In Wednesday night's 6-3 win over the Nationals, Dan Uggla batted sixth. Uggla may be hitting only .190 with a .707 OPS, but he's tied for the team lead with 21 home runs and is third with 52 RBI.
B.J. Upton is currently batting seventh, surely lower in the lineup than the Braves envisioned when they signed him during the offseason. Though he's down that low because he has a .198 average and .602 OPS, Upton still provides a combination of power and speed many teams don't have in the lower-third of the batting order.
Gonzalez had to do something. He's been criticized for tinkering too often with the lineup in past seasons, but this is a case where he put the right guy in the right role. Fans and analysts from conventional or sabermetric views could agree on batting Heyward leadoff. While he's built like a slugger, the 24-year-old can get on base and move himself around the basepaths if necessary. The extra-base power that comes with his physique could also result in some quick runs early in the game.
With the Nationals posing no real threat in the NL East, the Braves could have stayed complacent and hoped their struggling hitters could turn themselves around. They arguably had no choice, since GM Frank Wren made big moves during the offseason and was thus unlikely to add an impact player at the trade deadline.
Or Atlanta could try to shake up what it had. A big first-place lead allowed Atlanta the opportunity to experiment. Gonzalez has wisely taken advantage of that comfortable margin. Thus far, it's paid off nicely for his team and could pay added dividends through the end of the season.
