Whether you play season long or daily fantasy baseball, where a player hits in his teams’ lineup is extremely vital to the decision making process of selecting who to start. If a player is hitting in at the top of the lineup he will be more valuable than someone who is batting at the bottom of the lineup. This is due to the fact that a player will have more at bats and thus have a higher potential for production in a given game. Some managers like to mix and match and use different lineups depending on who the opposing pitcher is while other managers prefer stability in a lineup and try to keep the batting order very similar from game to game.

Below there are several circumstances in regards to lineup cards in the first week of the season that stand out and have fantasy implications. Here we’ll take a look at some interesting choices early on from managers league wide and what to expect moving forward.

Dave Martinez, Washington Nationals

Adam Eaton made his return from an injury suffered last season and Dave Martinez has elected to bat him leadoff in all four games he’s played in 2018. Eaton has two home runs and is batting .500 so it looks like a great decision from the new manager. The problem is that this has a massive impact, negatively, on Trea Turner who was a first round pick in most fantasy drafts this season. Turner was drafted to produce elite steals numbers and was expected to hit in the top third of his teams lineup, increasing his likelihood to fulfill expectations.

Turner through nine games has now batted first twice, fifth twice and sixth five times. While the spot in the order isn’t as juicy as leadoff or even second, he’s still stolen five bases in 42 plate appearances. Early indications are that Eaton will continue to bat leadoff and Turner will have to find a way to produce in elite fashion from the bottom half of the lineup.

Conclusion: Trea Turner is as good as they come and in a loaded Nationals lineup, you’ll get your expected numbers from him no matter where he hits in the Nations’ Capital. Despite that I think we can all agree that Trea Turner is more valuable at leadoff so we’ll keep our fingers crossed.

Buck Showalter, Baltimore Orioles

Chris Davis at leadoff? Really Buck? Well Buck is always going to be Buck, that we know for sure. In five games as the leadoff hitter, Chris Davis is 1-20 with five strikeouts and three walks. Scoring zero runs and having zero RBI’s early on has to spark a change if something doesn’t drastically change soon and with Davis having a 29.6% K-rate or higher in his last five full seasons, change doesn’t seem likely.

The move to bat the free swinger leadoff seemed like an extreme reach from the beginning and it’s likely to change soon, especially after a 1-5 start to the season. Baltimore doesn’t have any prototypical leadoff hitters which will make any leadoff hitter they choose look like a bit of a reach, however I think we can all agree Chris Davis is the last one we’d choose.

Conclusion: Its hard to believe that this is even a conversation but Buck Showalter thought he could get something from Chris Davis at leadoff and it didn’t work. Just five games into the experiment and they’ve made the move to Trey Mancini , another power hitter. Mancini at least provides some stable on base percentages after posting a .338 OBP in 2017. These decisions have a huge impact in value for these players fantasy wise and if Mancini can find a way to lock the leadoff spot down it could greatly increase his stock in 2018. Kudos to Buck for having a quick hook on Davis, although the move is extremely questionable to begin with.

Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Angels

The Japanese Babe Ruth Shohei Ohtani has made quite the impression in the regular season early on in 2018. After an atrocious spring, Ohtani has proceeded to throw a quality start with six strikeouts and a walk in his first game against Oakland and a near perfect game against Oakland the second time around. He is batting .389 with three home runs and seven runs batted in after 19 at bats. After hitting an impressive opposite field home run off of Indians ace Corey Kluber , the question presents itself. When will Ohtani be moved up in the order from the 8th spot?

He’s fast, strong and has a solid approach to his at bats. He is hitting the ball hard every at bat and has a 0% soft contact rate after 19 plate appearances. It’s easy to understand why Scioscia decided to bat Ohtani 8th to start his MLB career since he wanted to ease him in and not put a ton of pressure on him from the start. Ohtani is special and has the tools to be a superstar in this league. It’s only a matter of time before he forces Scioscia’s hand in pushing him up the lineup card, increasing run scoring opportunities and RBI potential.

Conclusion: Ohtani is not an eight hitter, we all know that. So with Trout, Upton and Pujols continually occupying the 2-4 slots of the lineup it seems most likely that we see Ohtani at 5th or 6th in the very near future with continued success and comfortability in the box. Although it’s early, Ohtani is proving to be ultra valuable both in the box and on the rubber and with sustained success to this level, he will absolutely be in the discussion for MVP. Oh oh oh Ohtaniiiiii!