Interleague Report: Week 20

Please note that in the “DH” column, the player listed is the player who has been added or removed from the lineup, not necessarily the player in the DH slot. For example, if the Phillies move Domonic Brown to DH and put Tony Gwynn Jr. in the OF, then I will list Gwynn Jr. in the “DH” column because he is the player that is gaining at-bats.

Last Week

AL at NL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
BAL	WAS (1)	1R	Pearce/Young/Lough
LAA	LAD (2)	1R, 1L	C.J. Cron
HOU	PHI (3)	2R, 1L	Marc Krauss
BOS	STL (3)	3R	Ortiz/Napoli
KC	ARI (3)	1R, 2L	Raul Ibanez
CLE	CIN (2)	2R	Chris Dickerson

Baltimore has been rotating Steve Pearce, Delmon Young, and David Lough in the left field/DH spot not being occupied by Nelson Cruz on any given day. All three sat and Cruz started in left field.

Albert Pujols played first base and C.J. Cron was not in the starting lineup.

With George Springer on the DL, Chris Carter moved to the outfield for the interleague contests with Marc Krauss moving to the bench.

While David Ortiz had been getting the starts at first base in prior interleague games, he only received one of the three starts in this series. Mike Napoli received the other two starts.

No DH usually means no Billy Butler; however, Eric Hosmer just landed on the DL. The Royals are relatively deep at zero-field, some-hit DH this season (not close to the Mariners, though); thus, Raul Ibanez lost three starts at DH.

With David Murphy banged up, Dickerson has been starting in center field with Michael Brantley playing left field. However, absent the DH, Michael Brantley moved to center field, Nick Swisher moved to left field, and Dickerson moved to the bench.

NL at AL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
CIN	CLE (2)	2R	Hannahan/Ludwick
ATL	SEA (2)	2R	Bonifacio/Gattis
SD	MIN (2)	2R	Tommy Medica
LAD	LAA (2)	1R, 1L	Crawford/Rojas

Jack Hannahan and Ryan Ludwick each received a start at DH.

Emilio Bonifacio has seemingly replaced Ryan Doumit on the Braves’ additional interleague bat depth chart (exciting times for the interleague report). Bonifacio got a start in the outfield to give Justin Upton a semi rest at DH for one game. Evan Gattis got the semi rest in the other game with Gerald Laird getting the start at catcher.

With Carlos Quentin injured, the Padres started both sides of their first base platoon in Minnesota. Because both games were against righties, this meant Medica getting two additional starts.

Against the righty, all four of the high profile outfielders started (Matt Kemp was at DH). Against the lefty, Hanley Ramirez moved to DH and Miguel Rojas got a start at shortstop.

This Week

AL at NL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
DET	PIT (2)	1R, 1L	Nick Castellanos
BOS	CIN (2)	2R	Ortiz/Napoli
CHW	SF (2)	2R	Dunn/De Aza
OAK	ATL (3)	1R, 2L	Fuld/Vogt/Crisp

The Tigers will most likely sit Castellanos, move Miguel Cabrera to third base, and start Victor Martinez at first base. Cabrera currently has eight games played and six games started at the hot corner. Martinez has 20 games played and 18 games started at first base.

Per notes from “This Week”, David Ortiz and Mike Napoli probably each get a start at first base.

Most likely, Adam Dunn starts his fifth and sixth games in the outfield and Alejandro De Aza sits.

Someone is going to lose starts in the outfield-first base-DH rotation. My guess is that Sam Fuld, Stephen Vogt, and Coco Crisp each lose one.

NL at AL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
ARI	CLE (2)	1R, 1L	Kieschnick/Marte/Gosewich
PHI	LAA (2)	2R	Darin Ruf
PIT	DET	2R	Pedro Alvarez

With Paul Goldschmidt on the DL this is even uglier than before. I think Roger Kieschnick or Andy Marte gets a start against the righty and that Tuffy Gosewich gets a start at catcher against the lefty with Miguel Montero moving to DH.

My guess is that Darin Ruf starts at first base and Ryan Howard starts at DH.

Clint Hurdle has not been starting Alvarez because of his defensive problems. Given this, I think Hurdle starts Alvarez both games at DH.

Next Week

AL at NL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
SEA	PHI (3)	2R, 1L	Morales/Morrison
TEX	MIA (2)	2R	Carp/Adduci
TOR	MIL (2)	2R	Munenori Kawasaki
KC	COL (2)	2L	Kratz/Dyson
BAL	CHC (3)	2R, 1L	Pearce/Young/Lough

I think that Kendrys Morales sits against the righties and the Logan Morrison sits against the lefty.

Shin-Soo Choo moves from DH to the outfield for games at National League parks. Consequently, Mike Carp or Jim Adduci will sit.

With Adam Lind due back, my guess is that Kawasaki gets bumped off of third base for interleague games to allow the Blue Jays to start Juan Francisco and Adam Lind on the corners.

The Royals were either giving at bats to Eric Kratz or Jarrod Dyson against lefties with Eric Hosmer on the DL. Both will see the bench without the DH.

For Baltimore, please see the note from “Last Week”.

NL at AL:

Away	Opponent (Games)	R/L Faced	DH
NYM	OAK (2)	1R, 1L	den Dekker/Young Jr.

My guess is that Matt den Dekker gets a start against the righty (Eric Campbell is the other possibility) and that Eric Young Jr. gets a start against the lefty.