Luis Arraez’s biggest strength made him a logical cleanup hitter for Don Mattingly. And it’s worked.
“It puts Luis in a spot where hits create runs,” Mattingly said of his unconventional No. 4 hitter, who so far has done just what the Phillies hoped when they traded for him.
After the Phillies traded for Luis Arraez, Don Mattingly began scratching out potential lineups. He settled on Kyle Schwarber in the leadoff spot and Arraez batting cleanup.
Wait … what?
Shouldn’t that be reversed?
“It is different than when I played, for sure,” Mattingly said Friday. “You would never have thought about hitting [Arraez] fourth. It would’ve been Schwarb fourth, for sure.”
» READ MORE: Trea Turner isn’t moving off shortstop (yet). The Phillies’ goal for now: Help him get better.
Indeed, for much of the peak of his 14-year playing career, Mattingly was the ideal No. 3 hitter in a Yankees batting order that featured classic profiles of a leadoff (Rickey Henderson) and cleanup (Dave Winfield) hitter.
Arraez is a contact-hitting savant who rarely strikes out but also doesn’t hit for power. In 891 starts before joining the Phillies, he batted cleanup only 38 times. Schwarber is among the most feared home-run threats in the sport but also leads the majors in strikeouts.
So, what prompted Mattingly to turn the stereotypical lineup construction on its ear?
“Well, I think it puts Luis in a spot where hits create runs, right?“ Mattingly said. ”Schwarbs is an on-base guy. If we get guys on base, I feel like it’s protection for Bryce [Harper]. They really don’t want to pitch to Arraez, either, because they know the hits are coming, and you’re really not going to punch him out for the most part. He doesn’t really strike out."
So far, it couldn’t be working out any better.
Arraez’s first two at-bats with the Phillies came with runners on first and second base Tuesday night. In both cases, he drove in a run. Through three games entering Friday night, he was 5-for-13 with two doubles, one homer, and four RBIs — all while batting in the cleanup spot behind Harper.
There’s more. Arraez swung at 28 pitches and made contact with all of them. And with him in the lineup, the Phillies were 32-for-101 (.317) and scored 16 runs in three games.
Mattingly conceded that he debated between Schwarber or Arraez in the leadoff spot, with the other hitting cleanup.
“And honestly,” he said, “I didn’t know which way was better. It’s worked out so far. We’ll see where it goes. But I like him there because he’s on base and he’s also driving in runs with hits.”
Honoring Utley
At Harper’s suggestion, the Phillies ditched their City Connect jerseys for the classic red pinstripes in honor of adding Chase Utley to the team’s Wall of Fame. Harper prompted the change with a text to owner John Middleton.
Utley, meanwhile, briefly played for Mattingly after the Phillies traded him to the Dodgers in August 2015.
“Just a guy that you love on your team and just kind of pure baseball, as much as anything,” Mattingly said. “It just seems like hard-nosed, straight-ahead, no-fluff baseball, and I love that.”
Mattingly recalled seeing Utley in spring training early in his career, when “most people probably didn’t know about Chase.”
“Those at-bats looked good,” Mattingly said. “You see it with young guys. You can tell certain guys, it’s just like, ‘OK, this is different.’ Right?”
Mattingly would know. Utley finished his career with a .275 average, .823 OPS, and 1,885 hits in 7,863 plate appearances; Mattingly was a .307 hitter with an .830 OPS and 2,153 hits in 7,722 plate appearances.
Extra bases
Schwarber took grounders and practiced picking throws in the dirt at first base. The Phillies are planning to start him there — and get Harper a day as the DH — this weekend. … With rain in the forecast through Saturday, the Phillies scratched triple-A righty Alan Rangel from his start Friday night in Worcester, Mass., in case they need a fresh arm. It also covers them in the rotation, although Andrew Painter is expected to make his next start Monday night in St. Louis after exiting his last start due to left hamstring tightness. … Aaron Nola (3-9, 5.55 ERA) is scheduled to start at 6:05 p.m. Saturday against Blue Jays righty Max Scherzer (1-4, 7.92).
In trading for Luis Arraez at the deadline, the Phillies displaced three-fourths of their infield but left Trea Turner at shortstop. To help make sense of it all, pennant-winning former shortstop and current radio broadcaster Kevin Stocker joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer's baseball podcast. Watch here.
You can also subscribe to the podcast version of Phillies Extra on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
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