Cubs' second baseman Addison Russell is being wasted batting 9th in manager Joe Maddon's screwy batting order. Maddon claims batting Russell 9th gives him two leadoff hitters. But clearly Russell is not a leadoff hitter but a middle of the order run producer type bat. Russell has already hit 4 homers and has 12 doubles (just one less than team leader Anthony Rizzo who had a big head start on Russell. )
So all Russell's power production is being wasted (he only has 14 RBI's batting after the pitcher.) He has only walked 8 times, which puts him next to Starlin Castro on the bottom of the team ladder. What is the point of this nonsense. If Maddon insists on hitter the pitcher eighth, then bat Chris Coghlan ninth (at least he has experience leading off.)
There are times that I think Joe Maddon makes these nonsensical moves just to stroke his own ego. Batting the pitcher eighth has had no positive effects at all this year for the Cubs and has killed many potential rallies. Maddon certainly has a way with the media but his in game decisions so far in 2015 have been awful.
