Chip Hale told reporters yesterday that he would like to bat all of his pitchers eighth.
This would move Hale into a growing trend of managers batting their pitchers eighth. The trend was started by none other than Diamondbacks Chief Baseball Executive Tony La Russa in 1998, when he batted pitcher Todd Stottlemyre eighth. This was the first time since 1979 a pitcher batted outside the ninth spot. This trend has since been emulated by the likes of Joe Maddon, Terry Collins and several others who have put this strategy into practice.
The reasoning behind batting pitchers eighth goes like this: If you have an elite No.