With a team golf outing in the afternoon taking precedence, action was light at Sloan Park Thursday morning. Joe Maddon did provide a little grist for the debate mill, however, proclaiming Kyle Schwarber the “frontrunner” to bat at the front of the order. He also discussed batting a Jon Jay/Albert Almora platoon in the nine-hole while moving the pitcher’s spot back up to eight like we saw so often in 2015.
“When people say cleanup hitter or third-place hitter, everybody’s applying conventional means from several years ago,” Maddon said of putting War Bear at the top.