It’s approaching that time of year when fans like to argue about lineup construction. And (whispering) I really don’t like arguing about batting order lineups. I probably shouldn’t disclose that, because I want you to continue reading the article.
The fact is that the difference in runs/per game between alternative batting orders typically is fairly small. Outside of inexplicably bad lineup decisions (say, batting a really bad hitter at the lead-off position), I don’t feel that it’s worth tremendous effort to debate alternative batting orders. That said, perhaps we can discuss what analytic methods might tell us about an Astros batting order in 2022.