Assessing your clubs individual abilities helps direct your offensive strategy. Part of that strategy is developing the best nine-person batting order possible. If players allow, begin your lineup with a right-handed batter, followed by a left-handed batter in the two spot, right-hander third, left-hander fourth, alternating through all nine batters. The purpose is twofold: (1) it’s not easy for an opposing pitcher to get comfortable; but more notably, (2) it’s a difficult lineup for your opponent to match up against with relief pitching in the deep innings of the game.

Another universal approach would be to get your best hitters at the top of your lineup so they will get the extra at-bats at the conclusion of the game

Ideally, the batting order should consist of the following:

Leadoff (1)

Your ideal leadoff man should have a solid knowledge of the strike zone and essentially be the catalyst of your team’s offense. As a result, he must have a good on-base percentage (OBA). His job is to get on base any way he can, by drawing walks or making solid contact hits. Patience is involved here. He must also have good speed to put pressure on the defense from the very first pitch of the game however; the ability to get on base supersedes the speed factor as speed does a team no good from the bench. He also provides a spark by stealing bases, moving himself into scoring position, and generally giving fits to the opposing pitcher. But being an above average base runner is more important than the ability to steal a base. Thus, a good leadoff hitter will have high speed, eye, and contact values, as well as a high OBA. Batting average is also important, but OBA is a better indicator since it also takes walks into account. With few exceptions, leadoff hitters generally don’t hit for power.

Two Spot (2)

The second hitter in your lineup must be a good contact hitter and is called upon to move the leadoff hitter along the base path. He can accomplish this with hits or sacrifice bunts, but will not walk as often as your lead off hitter yet he should still have a very high OBA. Ideally, this player is left-handed. As a lefty, his chances are good to put the ball through the right side with the first baseman holding a runner and he blocks a catcher’s vision to some extent as well. Good patience and selectivity from the number two hitter (i.e., ability to take pitches) enables your leadoff man to steal bases. Bat control is desired to move runners, and foot speed should not be overlooked to avoid possible double plays. Because the leadoff hitter will often attempt to steal bases, a swing and miss by the number two hitter could have the disastrous result of allowing the leadoff hitter to be thrown out. Therefore, contact and eye are the most important characteristics of your number two hitter. Often, the number two hitter will be the hitter on your team with the highest batting average. He may or may not hit for power; usually, he will only have average power numbers.

Three Hole (3)

By the time your third hitter comes to bat, you will ideally have a couple of runners in scoring position. The third hitter needs to bring those runs home. The best overall hitter on our roster will always be put into the third position in the order. He’ll have good power, high batting average with a low strike-out percentage. A number three hitter will rarely walk because he bats in front of the cleanup hitter. Hitting in this spot helps assure us that he has a good chance to be at the plate in the late innings with the game on the line.

This could also be a guy who can combine a little power with a good ability to get on base. Managers absolutely do not want to get outs from their team’s third spot in the order as this is key to starting innings and scoring runs, so they will sometimes put an OBP guy here and try to get the big hit from their clean-up hitter.

Note: A manager’s ideal situation would be for the leadoff guy to get on base, the two-hitter to move the runner into scoring position and the three-hitter to hit a home run or get the runner home.

Cleanup (4)

The cleanup hitter’s job is to clean up the base paths by driving all base runners home and should have the highest power rating on your team. Your RBI man belongs here, yet more importantly he must be able to protect your third hitter. Cleanup hitters may or may not hit for batting average; often, they will have fair to mediocre batting average numbers and average contact ratings.

Because cleanup hitters are typically bigger players, they are generally not fast. They also tend to have a high number of walks as most pitchers don’t want to run the risk if giving up home runs. He also must have such ability that your opponent will not pitch around your third hitter. By following these guidelines, expect your three spot to see good pitches to hit.

Five Hole (5)

At this point, your first five hitters have hopefully gotten you some runs. Ideally, your number five hitter will be just as dangerous to opposing pitchers as your cleanup hitter. If pitchers think they can walk your cleanup hitter and have an easy time with your number five hitter, they will. Therefore, your number five hitter should have better than average power numbers, and perhaps even a higher contact rating and batting average than your cleanup hitter. Remember, if your cleanup hitter fails, you’ll be counting on this guy to get your runs home.

Six & Seven (6 & 7)

Note: There are many schools of thought on how the bottom half of your lineup should be arranged. Some managers like to arrange the bottom half the same way as the top half, so that the number six hitter would be speedy, followed by an excellent hitting seventh hitter, a reliable and versatile number eight, and then either the pitcher or whoever you’ve got left in the number 9 slot. In any case, the beginning of your lineup will almost certainly be more formidable than the end, but skill in arranging the bottom half can get you an extra run or two that may be the difference between a win and a loss.

The 6 and 7 hitters are your power or miss players. You want them to swing aggressively so when they make contact it has an impact. Hopefully, they will produce RBIs. You would rather have them swing and miss than to be tentative, grounding weakly into a double play. It would be better if they strikeout rather than hit into a double play any day. When they make contact, it usually produces runs.

Bottom End (8 & 9)

Simply, you want your eighth and ninth hitters to mirror the abilities of your first two men in the order. Good foot speed and bat control are essential. As much as possible, you should create the same opportunities with these two hitters as you would with the top of the order.

Note: The Nine Hole (9) is one of the most important hitters in the lineup. Generally, these guys are the second fastest on the team and can hit well. Not exactly home runs, but decent base hits. This way, if they can get on, then you have the top of the line up to drive him in.