University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: A Natural Order
June 13, 2007 | Baseball
June 13, 2007
By Adam Lucas
At some point before Friday night's College World Series game against Mississippi State, Mike Fox will look at his assistant coaches and make a simple request:
"Give me a lineup."
Filling out the lineup card is one of the most basic elements of the game of baseball, but it's also one that can spark endless debate. The head coach has the final call on every aspect of the lineup, but he's been known to ask his assistants for any hunches or matchup advantages.
The Tar Heels head to Omaha today with a more settled order than they had last year, as there's been very little fluctuation over the past month. What's the prototype for each slot in the order? Fox explains:
Leadoff: "You want him to have a good eye, patience, and be confident with two strikes. He has to be able to bunt, slash, and handle the bat, and he probably brings the infielders in a little bit when he comes to the plate. He's not going to swing and miss a whole lot."
Reid Fronk has been in the leadoff spot for 49 of Carolina's 66 games this year. He's a unique blend of first-pitch aggressiveness--when a pitcher tries a get-me-over fastball on the game's first pitch, Fronk is likely to rip it for a base hit--and patience, as his 35 walks rank second on the team.
"I've had to get used to picking my spots to swing early," the Charlotte junior says. "But I definitely like sending a message on the first pitch."
Second: "He has to be able to bunt and slash and handle the bat. You don't want him to swing and miss a whole lot. He has to have patience and he has to be able to hit with two strikes."
Lately, the two-hole has been the domain of either Garrett Gore or Tim Fedroff. Gore often fills the spot against left-handed pitchers, while Fedroff hits second against righties. The Tar Heels aren't a frequent sacrificing team (their 23 sacrifice bunts ranks last in the ACC, with league leader Miami having sacrificed 69 times) so bunting ability isn't as big a prerequisite as it might be on other teams, but both can bunt if needed.
Third: "In most lineups, this is the guy you would define as the `best hitter.' I'm not sure why that is. You hope he gets up there with runners on base. Our 3-hitter is unusual because Dusty (Ackley) can really run. Most of the time this is a power guy and a high average guy. He has to be able to hit left-handed pitchers and right-handed pitchers."
Ackley, a freshman, has taken up permanent residence in this spot, as he's hit third in 45 of Carolina's games. The team leader in doubles, RBI, batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, he's equally adept at lacing a double in the gap or pounding the ball into the dirt in front of home plate and beating out an infield single (his 11 stolen bases also lead the team).
Fourth: "This is the cleanup guy. He has to have some power, hit some doubles, and clear the bases. He'll hit the gaps and hit an occasional home run."
Sounds like the perfect description of Tim Federowicz, who has occupied the cleanup spot 56 times. He and Ackley have battled for the team RBI lead all season (Federowicz currently trails by two, with 64) and currently share the doubles lead (19). The Apex native, who Fox simply writes on the lineup card as "FedEx," isn't a speed demon, but that's not a necessity at this point in the order. With a .376 batting average with runners in scoring position, Federowicz is among the team's best clutch hitters.
Fifth: "Generally, this is your RBI guy. If one through four are doing their job, he's going to get up there with someone on base. You count on him to drive in a lot of runs."
The emergence of Ackley allowed the Tar Heels the luxury of placing Josh Horton in the fifth spot, which gives them a left/right/left trio in the heart of the order that can cause fits for an opposing coach trying to juggle his bullpen. Ackley and Horton both rank among the nation's toughest players to strike out, making them very different from the free-swinging hearts of most batting orders.
Sixth/Seventh: "These are pretty interchangeable. At this point I'm not going as much by place in the order as I am which player is hitting behind which player."
With a lefty, Horton, in the fifth spot, sixth has usually belonged to the right-handed Chad Flack. That enables lefty designated hitter Kyle Seager to slide into the seventh spot, continuing the right/left alternating pattern all the way from third to the bottom of the order. That can play a big role in games, as does the fact that the Tar Heels also have a good selection of pinch-hitters from both sides (Kyle Shelton and Benji Johnson from the right, Mike Cavasinni from the left) on their bench.
Eighth: "I like power in the 8 hole. I want a guy who can hit it out of the ballpark. I like to be able to do damage in the bottom of the order, and that's why Seth (Williams) is a perfect eighth guy for us, especially with the way he is working counts and seeing the ball right now. The theory used to be that guys at the bottom of the order saw more fastballs, but I don't think that's true anymore at this level."
Williams hit seventh throughout the College World Series last year, but Carolina's more potent offense has allowed him to move to eighth on occasion this year. The junior from Hendersonville is hitting .393 during his current 9-game hitting streak. He's one of the very rare eighth hitters who is also a power threat, as his 8 home runs rank behind only Fronk's 11 in the Tar Heel batting order.
Ninth: "This has to be a pesky hitter. He can't just go up there and be content to take three pitches and sit down. This is where Garrett has improved a lot, because he used to be such a free swinger, and now he's showing more patience."
Gore, a sophomore who says he sees a few more fastballs in the ninth spot than in his other frequent batting order home (second), still doesn't walk much--just 9 in 147 plate appearances. But he's cut down on his strikeouts and turned in some quality at-bats over the last month.
The bottom third of Carolina's order picked up seven of the Tar Heels' 15 hits in the deciding game against South Carolina and drove in four of the team's nine runs. All because of the brilliant design of the lineup, right?
"I'd like to take some credit for that," Fox says with a smile. "But in reality you have to understand that the lineup coming up in order, one through nine, only happens the first time through. After that, your fifth guy could be your leadoff man in any given inning."
Adam Lucas's third book on Carolina basketball, The Best Game Ever, chronicles the 1957 national championship season and is available now. His previous books include Going Home Again, focusing on Roy Williams's return to Carolina, and Led By Their Dreams, a collaboration with Steve Kirschner and Matt Bowers on the 2005 championship team.
