The San Francisco Giants played 27 games last year with the pitcher in the eighth spot, which is more than many teams have in recent years. Every now and then, guys like Tony LaRussa would do something like that while managing the Cardinals. But the Giants were one of the first teams to utilize that batting order in a few years.
2017 is likely going to see an end to that. What made it so effective was the presence of multiple players who had lead-off hitter type qualities. A list of those who made starts in the ninth spot that weren’t pitchers, but the pitchers were in the lineup (excluding DH situations):
Key Ingredients?