Los Angeles Angels manager Joe Maddon made a notable lineup alteration for the spring training encounter against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. Shohei Ohtani has been primarily slotted in as the leadoff hitter in spring training, but this time around, Maddon penciled in Mike Trout to bat first.
Overall, Trout recorded one hit in three at-bats, as the Angels went on to clinch a 7-6 win over the Reds.
One could jump to conclusions that Maddon may opt to periodically slot in Trout as the team’s leadoff hitter over the course of the upcoming season. For the moment, Maddon is not ruling out this possibility.
“It’s an interesting thing,” Maddon said. “It’s definitely a possibility. I just wanted to invert them and see what it looks like with Shohei behind Mikey and how that affects him. That’s all there is right now.
“I’m not saying I won’t do it, but I wanted to see what it looked like.”
Earlier in the week, Maddon noted that he plans to feature Ohtani as the leadoff hitter to open up the season. Trout and Anthony Rendon are slated to bat behind the 2021 American League MVP Award winner.
“I like him leading off, you can read into that,” Maddon said. “I think it’s the best spot for him. I like when the whole batting order protects him.
“I like how it balances out after that. You have to keep in mind the three-batter minimum. I used to set up a batting order based on left-right, left-right, but the three-batter minimum caused me to think of it in a different way.”
In short, it will be noteworthy to see on how many times Maddon will call on Trout to leadoff this year. Trout has hit at the top of the batting order 162 times in his career, with 138 such appearances coming in the 2012 season. He has posted a .321 batting average and a .398 OBP when hitting leadoff.
The Angels’ 2022 regular season opener is just days away, as they will kick off their campaign with a four-game home series against the reigning AL champions in the Houston Astros beginning on April 7.
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