Why is granderson leading off

But if you're a guy who can drive the baseball, you're going to be aggressive and set the tone by either getting on base, getting an extra-base hit or, possibly, starting the game off Granderson more or less described himself, and last season he finished fifth in the American League in slugging percentage.

His divisional and positional peer, Cleveland's Grady Sizemore, socked 92 extra-base hits the year before. The Mets' Jose Reyes , the speediest of all leadoff hitters, packs good pop, and Arizona's Chris Young hit 32 home runs and fell three stolen bases shy of being the majors' first rookie.

And we can't forget the leadoff hitter who best epitomizes the power surge — and the most misplaced — Alfonso Soriano, who must be telekinetic with his ability to convince manager after manager that keeping him hitting first is a stroke of brilliance. All seven players share one characteristic in addition to hitting dynamism, and that's foot speed, which remains a prevailing factor behind batting first — though not the only, as Kevin Youkilis 95 games in and Paul Lo Duca 44 in can attest.

It's managers' last gasp at the classic leadoff hitter instead of one who resembles Rickey Henderson, baseball's greatest power-and-speed combination at the top of the lineup since Ty Cobb. Granderson didn't envision himself a leadoff hitter. Throughout the minor leagues, he hit second. Then, in , the Tigers tinkered with Granderson leading off and knew they hit jackpot: homer power and steal speed with plenty of room to improve, if he can cut down on his strikeouts.

Leyland understands the value of Granderson hitting leadoff because in his first season managing he had a similar hitter at No. Spindly, left-hander, good power, very good speed. Now, Barry Bonds is baseball's home run king. Eventually, Leyland understood the power played better with Bonds in the No. Cleveland tried that with Sizemore last year, cognizant that between and , no one had 92 extra-base hits in a season.

The experiment at No. The Marlins have been hitting Ramirez in the third hole for the last two weeks after trying him there for more than a month last season, and his OPS drops points from when he hits leadoff.

The biggest surprise this season, Pittsburgh's Nate McLouth , has slid down from the leadoff spot, where he hit seven home runs, to the No. After missing the season's first three weeks because of a fractured middle finger, he returned with five home runs in his first 11 games.

Granderson snapped a game drought with another home run Tuesday, and though his. So every game, Granderson trots into the batter's box first for the Tigers, his job multifold.

He needs to be the nag, the pest, the one who makes people uncomfortable, who grinds out at-bats to the tune of 4. And he needs to hit for power along the way, the season last year — plus doubles, triples, home runs and stolen bases — setting a mighty standard.

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Nine times out of 10, you tend to have better results in terms of not chasing pitches out of the zone. Well, Granderson found a fastball in the first inning from Braves starter and loser Julio Teheran and homered for a second straight night as he drilled a shot off the second deck in right, his 27th career leadoff blast.

He singled and scored in the second on his way to a 2-for-5 game. Granderson, the first Met with three leadoff homers in a season since Jose Reyes in , has hit in five different spots in the batting order but since mid-June has pretty much settled into the leadoff spot. Contact The Author Name required. Email required. Wade Miley is ready for take two. The Brewers left-hander figures to see more than one batter in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series when he tries to help Milwaukee stave off elimination, down to the Dodgers.

Miley goes back to the hill two days after being lifted one batter into Game 5 in a designed move by manager Craig Counsell. Curtis Granderson is still smiling, even with a big chunk of his front right tooth buried somewhere in the infield at Dodger Stadium.