CHICAGO -- Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon exclusively has batted his pitcher eighth this season. New York Mets manager Terry Collins is not there yet, but the frequency that Collins places his pitcher in the No. 8 slot in the lineup is about to increase.
Noah Syndergaard makes his major league debut as the No. 8 hitter Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
It marks only the second time this season the pitcher has batted eighth for the Mets. Jacob deGrom hit there on April 8, in the second game of the season.
Collins said he is now more amenable to the pitcher regularly hitting eighth because he has now committed to Daniel Murphy moving from No. 5 to No. 3 in the batting order. A position player batting ninth potentially gives Murphy more opportunities to drive in runs in his new slot.
Collins said he would be unlikely to bat the pitcher eighth when the Mets are facing a lefty and the Mets pitcher bats lefty. That's why Collins nixed having deGrom bat eighth against southpaw Jon Lester in Monday's series opener.
Collins said he strongly considered batting the pitcher eighth with regularity early in the season, but he did not want to tinker too much once the Mets started reeling off 11 straight wins.
"During our winning streak, the bottom of our lineup carried us for quite a while," Collins said. "And that was with the pitcher hitting ninth. And I wasn't about to disrupt that."
