Twins manager Derek Shelton surprised fans when he slotted left fielder Austin Martin in the leadoff role against the Baltimore Orioles for the season opener on Thursday. However, since Martin hit an outstanding .346/.404/.481 in 57 plate appearances against lefties last year, and left-hander Trevor Rogers made the start for the Orioles, the decision made sense.
But what didn't make sense was Shelton's decision to have first baseman Kody Clemens bat leadoff for Games 2 and 3 of the series.
Twins manager Derek Shelton's decision to bat Kody Clemens leadoff makes no sense
It's justifiable to prefer Byron Buxton and Luke Keaschall to bat second and third, respectively, as it allows them to receive more plate appearances with runners on base. But it's not very justifiable to prefer Clemens to be the one to hit ahead of the two stars.
Clemens had an outstanding spring training, slashing .300/.341/.550 across 44 plate appearances. That's probably why Shelton has him in the leadoff spot.
However, Clemens posted an awful .284 on-base percentage last season. And Clemens has a career .312/.373/.557 slash line over 263 spring training plate appearances. It seems unlikely this will be the one season his strong spring stats finally carry over to the regular season.
Clemens still deserves a role on the team. He can play first base, second base and corner outfield, and has power at the plate (19 homers in 112 games with Minnesota last year). That said, he shouldn't be the leadoff hitter.
Continuing to use Martin as the leadoff hitter against lefties is fine, at least for now. But if Martin is going to mainly just bat versus southpaws, Shelton has to figure out who should assume the role against righties, and it shouldn't be Clemens.
Keaschall, who posted a .382 on-base percentage in 49 games last season, seems like the best option to bat leadoff. But, as stated earlier, it appears Shelton would prefer the second baseman receive more opportunities with runners on base. The same goes for Buxton.
Last season, Josh Bell, Victor Caratini, Ryan Jeffers, Matt Wallner, Trevor Larnach and even Brooks Lee had a higher on-base percentage than Clemens. Even Royce Lewis' awful .283 on-base percentage was barely below Clemens'.
To be fair to Shelton, he doesn't have a lot of great leadoff options besides Buxton and Keaschall. Still, he should have someone not named Kody Clemens fill the role.