11 June 2063
Boise, Idaho
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Yaxel Bardenwerper
1B Tracy 'Jigga' Allison
66 G, 12 2B, 6 3B, 5 HR, 30 RBI, .231/.274/.367, 43 SB, +0.3
The experiment of putting Tracy Allison at leadoff has, for the moment at least, been halted. Last year's leadoff hitter, CF Bob Hills - now with Vancouver, was not super productive at getting on base putting up an OBP of .327, but he was serviceable. Especially with Allison at the #2 spot with his steady stream of doubles and triples. Hills replacement, Amphibian Johnson, is not a leadoff hitter whatsoever. So the choice was made to put Allison, with his speed and XBH, at the top of the order setting the table for Kuhn & Company. To say it has not paid off is an extreme understatement. Allison only has a career OBP of .317, but the past two seasons saw him post .336 & .351 while booking an OPS of .886 and .817. This season is a different story.
At the top of the order, Jigga started well with a .315/.377/.426 slash in April but currently sports one of .231/.274/.367. That's compared to his .301/.351/.466 from 2062. He is clearly not suited for the leadoff role for whatever reasons. That's not his profile either so it shouldn't be surprising, but the hope was that he could carry his 2061 & 2062 numbers with him. So manager Mario Contreras has made the call to move Allison down in the order pushing LF Cosmo Pan to the top spot and swapping Allison and RF Tsutomu Yamauchi. Pan sports a .786 OPS with a .340 OBP and so should be able to hold down the lead role getting on base at a reasonable rate. Yamauchi takes his slash of .275/.330/.478 (team-leading .808 OPS) to the 2nd spot in the order while Allison slides down between 3B Bill Kuhn (.245/.346/.444, 8 2B, 12 HR) and C Tadanobu Otani (.240/.314/.382, 16 2B, 5 HR), keeping him out of the #6 slot to avoid an expanding black hole from the bottom of the order up a rung assuming he doesn't turn things around.
Jigga is on pace for 27 doubles, 14 3B, 11 HR, 68 RBI, and 97 stolen bases. He closed 2062 with 41 doubles, 14 triples, 7 HR, 43 RBI, and 63 SB.