A lineup thought. Put speed behind power?

Every manager has a decision to make when they write the lineup out. Where should certain hitters hit in the lineup? I contend that putting fleet footed players behind those high power, high strikeout guys makes a considerable amount of sense.

Let's investigate.

High power guys tend to be high strikeout guys. The reason? The bat path that creates high flight balls also tends to miss more balls than one that has a slightly smaller degree of incline to it. So, guys that hit the ball out of the park more also strikeout more. Historically, the numbers bear this out.

If a player has a proclivity to hit home runs and or strike out, that implies there is a better than average chance the next hitter will hit with the bases empty(either a home run that clears the bases or leading off the next inning after a strikeout.)

If that is true, you want the leadoff hitter of an inning to be a potential high stress guy on the bases. You would like all leadoff hitters to put pressure on the defense by putting the ball in play and subsequently to provide a steal threat.

It seems that when speed hits behind power that it gives the lineup maker the best opportunity to constantly stress the defense.

Keep an eye on lineups and how often power hitters strike out to end innings. Furthermore, how often speed leads off the next inning.

Given the fact that most teams begin games with speed, I would contend that every manager would rather have speed leading off and power hitting with men on base. One logical way to do this is to have speed hitting behind power.