How to Make a Batting Order

Good strategy and coaching is essential in baseball. This includes making an effective batting order. This guide will give a description of each spot in the order and help you arrange your hitters.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Pen and paper
• Player statistics, if available

How to Make a Batting Order

1. The lead-off batter should be someone who is fast and can consistently get on base either through walks or hits. Power is not as important in this position; instead, you are looking for a player with a high on-base percentage and the potential to steal bases. A quick base runner and consistent batter at the top of the lineup is a guaranteed way to increase your team's run production.

2. The second batter should be fairly similar to the lead-off hitter. But in this position, hitting is far more important than speed because, ideally, this player should be trying to move the lead-off batter closer to home. Again, you want consistency in this spot, favoring players with a high on-base percentage.

3. This position should be the easiest to identify. Your best all-around hitter bats third. This player may not have the highest average on the team, but he/she will have the best balance of contact and power hitting. Though good power hitters often hit clean up, or fourth, this player's high overall skills make it a necessity to place them third to ensure that they bat in the first inning.

4. In the clean up or fourth position should be your team's best power hitter. If the best power hitter is also your best all around player, he/she will already be third in the order, so in that case, this should be your second-best power hitter. If this player comes up to bat in the first inning, it is likely that there is at least one base runner, and this batter is responsible for getting a hit that will bring the runner home.

5. After your third and fourth batters, the fifth person in the order should be the team's third-best power hitter. If the clean up hitter fails to score the runners but does not end the inning, the fifth batter assumes the responsibility of putting runs on the board. The third, fourth, and fifth batters should be the team's best power hitters and most capable of getting extra-base hits.

6. At the sixth spot in the order, the lineup starts over. Ideally, this batter should be similar to your lead-off hitter. He/she should be a fairly consistent hitter and a capable baserunner; however, this person likely is not quite as skilled as the first batter in these areas.

7. The seventh, eighth and ninth positions should be your three most inconsistent hitters. Traditionally, these three players are ranked from most productive (the seventh batter) to the least productive (the ninth batter). Typically there is little strategy involved in arranging these hitters, but some coaches opt to switch the eighth and ninth batters. This tactic is intended to put a slightly better hitter at the end of the lineup who is more likely to continue the inning and bring up the top of the order rather than make the third out.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep in mind that the higher a player bats in the order, the more plate appearances they will have per game. Over the course of a season, this makes a considerable difference in the number of at bats a player has, so always position your best hitters in the top half of the lineup.

• At higher levels, consider match ups when creating the lineup for a single game. For example, if the opposing pitcher is left handed, adjust the order based on which players succeed and struggle against lefties.

• Maintaining a consistent lineup, when possible, often can improve your hitters' performance. Likewise, frequent changes to the order can have the opposite effect.

• If a player is slumping, try moving them in the order, but be more cautious when it comes to moving a player on a hot streak.