The Detroit Tigers will once again be a potent lineup in 2015. In each of the past two seasons they have scored the second most runs in Major League Baseball. But they do have a significant question to answer about the lineup, and for me it's, "Who bats second?"
Last year Torii Hunter started 72 games batting second and hit .291 with a .315 OBP in that slot. Ian Kinsler took most of the other opportunities and batted .265 with a .302 OBP over 73 games in the two-hole. Hunter is gone and Kinsler, because of relatively even splits, likely hits leadoff for Detroit.
So who bats second? The next top-of-the-lineup hitter might come out of the center-field position, which is currently a battle between right-handed hitting Rajai Davis (career .317 OBP) and left-handed hitting Anthony Gose (.301)
I have long been a proponent of ignoring the old adage of what a No. 2 hitter should be, and I would rather see teams put a good hitter there or just move everyone up a spot if there isn't a qualified candidate. The Tigers do have a qualified candidate, he's just your prototypical two-hole hitter.
J.D. Martinez burst on the scene last year after a lot of mediocrity in Houston. He hit .315 with a .358 OBP and an OPS of .912 to go with 23 home runs. The keys to his turn around were adjustments to his swing that lead you to believe 2014 was not an aberration.
Hitting in front of a guy like Miguel Cabrera is just about every hitter's dream and it's reasonable to assume Martinez's production would even improve hitting second.
The only downside to Martinez's year that might make you pause on batting him second was his 26.3% strikeout rate. Though that rate was right there with baseball's best two-hole hitter Mike Trout, who had a 26.1% rate in 2014.
Brad Ausmus will have some options with his 2015 lineup, Martinez batting second might be a good one.
