Dave Reardon: Hill’s art and science of making a batting order work

They include Dave Roberts, the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are back-to-back World Series champions with Shohei Ohtani batting first. ...

Not even a future National League MVP was immune to the mad scientist of baseball lineup makers. It was unconventional when Rich Hill put the top home run hitter in the country atop the batting order. But if that means he is crazy, others are too.

They include Dave Roberts, the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are back-to-back World Series champions with Shohei Ohtani batting first. When Hill, now the University of Hawaii baseball coach, was at the University of San Diego, there were times when he would slot Kris Bryant at leadoff, five years before most American baseball fans had even heard of Ohtani. “When I did that with Kris, I got a ton of backlash.

‘There goes Hill, the nutty professor, trying to outsmart the game again. ’ But we got a lot of leadoff home runs,” Hill said. “Nobody wants to walk the first batter of the game.