Ned Yost has decided to bat his catcher Jason Kendall 9th this season, behind his pitcher. The reason states Yost, “Jason hits into a lot of doubleplays and I don’t want him hitting into a doubleplay with my pitcher coming up next. Besides if the pitcher bunts up a runner before Kendall comes to the plate, there’s no chance to ground into a DP”.
It’s been pretty interesting to see what the media thinks of this move. There has pretty much been no comment from the media, the silence has been deafening. As opposed to when Tony LaRussa has moved a batter into the 9th spot in the order to get two leadoff batters. I have a theory about this, the media is waiting out Ned, thinking, this guy’s a goof. But with Tony, the genius, it was, we mustn’t truly comprehend the genius that’s going on here.
In yesterday’s game against the Cubs the Brewers backstop picked up three hits in four at bats, with two RBI’s, to raise his season average to a robust .500. We’ll have to see how this experiment goes. But here’s to Ned Yost for thinking outside the box.