Report from the Fort: The Secrets of Spring Training Lineups

[John Bonnes]

FORT MYERS - What factors make spring training lineups so much different than those in the regular season?

The form and factor of spring training lineups change throughout the Grapefruit League season, but there is a logic to them. Earlier, teams want to give the prospects and invitees a chance to show what they can do. For road games, they want to defer to veterans to avoid long bus trips. Finally, the best hitters want to face the best pitchers to gear up for the regular season.

As a result of these, you can get a sense of what to expect from lineup of your favorite team at various points in the season. In this 2-minute video, I dive into some of the factors that you should anticipate as a fan when you see the starting lineup.

 

View full article

[miracleb]

TY John!!

[whosafraidofluigirussolo]

Today's listed lineup on mlb.com as of about 45 minutes before game time. I'm guessing that, between the very early stage of spring training they're at and this being an away game, they're filling the lineup with guys from the minor league camp (not even non-roster invitees), so the site doesn't even pull those players' names since they're "invisible" on the ST roster...?

 

 

[TaterTot]

I can’t wait until the big names like Correa and Buxton are in the lineup. It was interesting to see brooks lee today, but the only MLB players from last year were Jose Miranda and Joe Ryan.

[Squirrel]

52 minutes ago, TaterTot said:

I can’t wait until the big names like Correa and Buxton are in the lineup. It was interesting to see brooks lee today, but the only MLB players from last year were Jose Miranda and Joe Ryan.

Welcome to travel days. My guess is they will either be in Monday’s or Tuesday’s lineup or both. Since Monday is just across town, more of the regulars might be willing to ‘travel.’ In the past I’ve gone to games at Hammond with friends who were fans of other teams, and they were always disappointed when regulars from their teams weren’t there. But, considering how early it is in the ST, yeah, this is it. As more players get sent to minor league camp, we’ll see more regular and longer playtime in a couple weeks.