Grudzielanek May Hit Leadoff Now That Hill’s Gone
Now that the previously supposed leadoff hitter for this season Bobby Hill has been sent to Iowa, Mark Grudzielanek, who probably takes Hill’s spot at second base, may also hit leadoff. Here’s GM Jim Hendry on the subject:
“That’s up to Dusty. It’s getting to be a hard thing to find, that natural true leadoff hitter. I think Dusty will probably mix and match. (Alex) Gonzalez hitting second seems a good fit. Grudzielanek is a pretty good hitter career-wise, it’s possible (he’ll leadoff) and hopefully it’ll work out.”
I really hope Hendry is just being nice with that “Grudzielanek is a pretty good hitter career-wise” comment. Grudzielanek has had only one season in which he’s posted a league average OPS and that was four years ago. His career OPS is 6.5% below league average. Not terrible for a middle infielder, especially if you make him your back-up, but certainly not “pretty good.”
With Grudzielanek hitting leadoff and Alex Gonzalez hitting second, Baseball Prospectus projects the two hitters setting the table for Sosa, Alou, and Choi this year to have on-base-percentages of .292 and .304, respectively. Ouch.