Ryan Braun: Where to draft? (Merged)

[BitterDodgerFan]

does anyone remember when yost changed his spot in the batting order from 3rd to 4th last year and he was totally tanking? he eventually changed it back to how it was before, but how does the batting order look for 08 and is there anything about his spot in the order that can affect him? and why did that change affect him so much? was it protection or pressure or was the sample size so small we should ignore that?

Two words: Prince Fielder.

please elaborate.

[Yoda]

does anyone remember when yost changed his spot in the batting order from 3rd to 4th last year and he was totally tanking? he eventually changed it back to how it was before, but how does the batting order look for 08 and is there anything about his spot in the order that can affect him? and why did that change affect him so much? was it protection or pressure or was the sample size so small we should ignore that?

Two words: Prince Fielder.

please elaborate.

A lot easier to hit with Fielder on deck.

[BitterDodgerFan]

so is he still going to hit behind him?

[RedSoxNation04]

One would hope that Yost would take the approach of "why fix what ain't broke". Having said that, Rototimes has him batting 3rd behind Hardy and ahead of Prince.

[Yoda]

so is he still going to hit behind him?

I would assume so if both are hitting well.

[RugbyD]

Two words: Prince Fielder.

please elaborate.

A lot easier to hit with Fielder on deck.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday when Keith Law called 'protection' a myth in his chat yesterday. I'm inclined to take his word for it despite Braun's performance in that regard.

[Yoda]

A lot easier to hit with Fielder on deck.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday when Keith Law called 'protection' a myth in his chat yesterday. I'm inclined to take his word for it despite Braun's performance in that regard.

Did he provide any data to support his claim? You would think that pitchers would pitch around you if the guy on deck doesn't seem like much of a threat.

He hit almost equally well with/without runner on base. Also he only had 44 ABs as the clean up hitter and maybe he was facing mostly righties who he has a tougher time against?

[RugbyD]

A lot easier to hit with Fielder on deck.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday when Keith Law called 'protection' a myth in his chat yesterday. I'm inclined to take his word for it despite Braun's performance in that regard.

Did he provide any data to support his claim? You would think that pitchers would pitch around you if the guy on deck doesn't seem like much of a threat.

He hit almost equally well with/without runner on base. Also he only had 44 ABs as the clean up hitter and maybe he was facing mostly righties who he has a tougher time against?

Didn't offer specifics, but I can see in this case how it could be true. I don't think a pitcher would want to put someone on base for Fielder any more than they would want to throw strikes to Braun.

[BitterDodgerFan]

why is hardy batting behind him instead of fields? fields and hardy are worlds apart on their intimation factor, no?

[Yoda]

I was thinking the same thing yesterday when Keith Law called 'protection' a myth in his chat yesterday. I'm inclined to take his word for it despite Braun's performance in that regard.

Did he provide any data to support his claim? You would think that pitchers would pitch around you if the guy on deck doesn't seem like much of a threat.

He hit almost equally well with/without runner on base. Also he only had 44 ABs as the clean up hitter and maybe he was facing mostly righties who he has a tougher time against?

Didn't offer specifics, but I can see in this case how it could be true. I don't think a pitcher would want to put someone on base for Fielder any more than they would want to throw strikes to Braun.

As I said, I'd like to see some data before believing that. I do think protection is overrated (see my years of posts regarding MCab) but still, if you ahve a guy who hits 50 HRs right behind you versus a replacement level player, I would think that you would get some better pitches to hit.