In what way? I REALLY like Werth as a leadoff hitter but I wonder what your reasoning is. I've seen articles suggesting the Nats sign Bourn as a leadoff hitter and I just have to
Quite a few things. I wrote an article (h/t JCA) and pitched it to Fangraphs but they never replied...
- Werth sees a ton of pitches. He didn't qualify for the batting title this year but if he had, he'd be top-5 (MLB) for pitches per plate appearance. His extremely good eye makes pitchers work from the very start. The other top P/PA guys are big sluggers like Jose Bautista and Mark Reynolds; Werth is the only "athletic" type to make that leaderboard.
- Werth gets on base. Honestly, with Harper and Zimmerman behind you, you don't need to steal that much cuz they're gonna hit doubles and homers. (At age 19, Bryce Harper's ISO of .206 compares to CarGo, Holliday, and Posey.)
Check it: .......2012OBP....CareerOBP
Jayson Werth.. .387 ...... .362
Michael Bourn.. .348 ...... .339
Really the only advantage Bourn has is steals. He's turning 30, and while I don't know how the steal tool is aging, the truth is that if you were told there was a crazy-great defensive CF who hits .270 and gets tons of steals, but doesn't hit as much as our outfielders, doesn't get on base as much, and has vastly less power, well, you'd think he'd make us a great 4th OF and pinch-runner/defensive sub. Right?