Stott, leads the team in hits and WAR. And speaking of WAR, their second-best WAR guy, Brandon Marsh, is also on the bench. Why? Because he's a lefty. Duh.
The decision to sit Marsh I kind of understand, because he has just a .662 OPS and a .221 batting average against lefties. But Stott actually has a higher batting average against lefties than righties (.310 vs. .304). His OPS is slightly lower against lefties (.764) but it's not terrible.
Josh Harrison is filling in at second. You could almost understand it if he mashed against lefties. But that's not the case. Not even close. He's hitting .185 with a .428 OPS against lefties. So just because somebody decided decades ago that young left-handed hitters should face left-handed pitching, Stott is sitting. That has to the reason. Because there's no excuse to keep him out of the lineup. He's been the Phillies' best and most consistent hitter all season. He should be playing every single day. I'd like to clone him and put him in left field and fill the bench with him.
I'm sure Rob Thomson has a logical (to him) reason to sit Stott against lefties. But for the life of me, I can't figure it out. This lineup is a loss waiting to happen. I hope I'm wrong.
