Alex Rodriguez continued his string of Instagram live interviews with current and former Mets on Tuesday, this time welcoming Keith Hernandez.
After speaking with Pete Alonso on Sunday and then Darryl Strawberry on Monday, A-Rod welcomed Hernandez, the 11-time Gold Glove winner, one of the leaders of the 1986 World Series Champion Mets, and of course, a member of the SNY booth.
Hernandez and Rodriguez touched on a number of different topics, including who some of Hernandez's favorite defensive first basemen in the game today are, but they also spoke about how the game has changed.
One of the new trends in baseball today is teams having their best power hitters bat out of the two-hole in the lineup, as opposed to the 3-4-5 spots.
Take Aaron Judge, for example. Judge is undoubtedly one of the best pure power hitters in the game, and he's hit second in the Yankees' lineup 235 times over his career, easily the most of any spot. Even Pete Alonso started 70 games in the two-hole his rookie season with the Mets, the most of any spot in the order.
While Hernandez and Rodriguez understand the logic of putting your best power hitter there, Hernandez sees things more traditionally.
"I'm old school," Hernandez said. "You cannot put a lineup of eight guys, eight Alex Rodríguezes, that are going to hit you 35-40 home runs a year. You've got to have a balanced lineup, left and right, and table-setters at the top of the order. I know that they like to hit their big guys in the two-hole today to get more at-bats. To me, if that's where you're putting your best bopper, and I know they say they get up more times (hitting second). In the American League I can see it because of the DH, but not with the pitcher hitting ninth.
"I'm a traditionalist. You've got speed at the top, the one-two hitters. Guys that can handle the bat, get on base, second hitter is a guy who can hit-and-run, but that's another lost art of the game. They don't believe in that. Guys who can take pitches and allow the steal, then your big boppers come in, your traditional third hitter, your best hitter in the lineup average-wise, clutch hitter, line-drive hitter, then comes your 4-5-6 hitters. …That's the meat of the order."
Hernandez joked that if he was putting together a lineup today, he wouldn't have Rodriguez -- who crushed a whopping 696 homers in his career -- batting anywhere but third or fourth.
"That's where I'd want you hitting. I wouldn't hit you second," said Hernandez. "I'd hit you fourth … You're never gonna hit second for me."
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