Should your leadoff hitter be:
Player A with 5 stolen bases
Player B with 57 stolen bases
Player A with a .379 on-base percentage
Player B with a .336 on-base percentage
Old-school philosophy has always been to put the player with speed at the top of the order. However, the sabermetric community has made a case for years that on-base percentage is more important than speed.
Some teams are beginning to come around. Here's how it worked for the Red Sox last year. The on-base guy, Player A, is Kevin Youkilis, the Greek God of Walks. The speedy guy, Player B, is Coco Crisp. The two of them shared leadoff duties for the Red Sox last year. How did the Red Sox fare?
| Red Sox Record in 2006 |
| Crisp batting leadoff | 24 wins, 31 losses |
| Youkilis batting leadoff | 55 wins, 40 losses |
The evidence is not conclusive of course, but score one for the numbers guys.