Fantasy Baseball: 030318 — Gamer: Cruz cashes in on Bonds

Brandon Funston writes: Last season, Cruz split the majority of his at bats between No. 3 and No. 5 in the order. And it was clear that hitting in front of Delgado as opposed to behind him definitely helped his numbers.

He then shows that Cruz hit .285 with .867 OPS in 179 AB batting third, and .211 with a .667 OPS batting fifth.

Alas, MLB.com’s excellent double-situational stats don’t cover place in the batting order. And while I’ve found batting order positional stats at bigleaguer.com, there is no way to break them down vs. lefties and righties.

So, I throw this open to Toronto watchers last year. Did Cruz bat in front and behind Delgado randomly throughout the year? Or was he put in the five hole for a time because he was struggling, or against certain types of pitchers, whatever?

I think Cruz is going to see increased production this year because batting near Bonds changes the whole game. But I’m just a little dubious about the clarity and appropriateness of the statistic evidence proffered here.