Cincinnati Reds make unique lineup move on Monday night

The Cincinnati Reds decided to bat their catcher in the leadoff position on Monday night. That had not happened before in the modern era.

Typically, catchers do not hit leadoff. They are usually slow footed, clogging the basepaths when they do get on base. Even those who show solid on base ability and decent enough speed are not put at the top of the lineup. It just is not done.

On Monday, the Cincinnati Reds decided to put together a unique lineup. Catcher Curt Casali was slotted into the leadoff role, a place he had never started a game. In fact, since 1900, the Reds had never had a catcher bat leadoff.

Over their history, the Reds have had some excellent catchers. Johnny Bench had a lifetime .342 on base percentage, and drew a walk in 10.3% of his plate appearances. Ernie Lombardi won two batting titles, with his first coming during his time in Cincinnati, and had four seasons with an on base percentage over .370.

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Yet, even with that heritage, it is Casali that will get that first nod in the leadoff spot. He is an odd choice for the role, with a lifetime .227/.305/.406 batting line heading into Monday. However, he does have a .375/.412/.563 batting line in his 17 plate appearances thus far in 2019, making him one of the hotter bats in the Reds lineup.

Casali is also in uncharted territory in regards to his place in the batting order. He has three career plate appearances out of the leadoff spot, none of which came in a start. Casali had also struck out in all three of those plate appearances, which is not exactly a track record of success in that spot in the lineup.

However, the Reds need to do something to jumpstart their offense. Heading into their game Monday night, they ranked 11th in the National League with 52 runs scored, and were 12th with .689 OPS. Considering the high hopes that Cincinnati had coming into 2019, and the moves made to upgrade their offense, that lack of production is disappointing.

The Cincinnati Reds did something on Monday that they may have never done in team history – hit their catcher in the leadoff spot.