Brantley's 2018 Batting Order Position & LF/PH/DH #s

hi, Brantley fans! hope you are well. this is the second Michael Brantley wrap up blog, which contains all of his number breakdowns based on his batting order positions and LF, PH, and DH #s for the 2018 regular season.

let's take a quick dive back into the past before i get into the present. in case you don't remember, prior to this season, Michael was the Indians' 3 hole hitter. in fact, he'd been regularly batting 3rd in the order since May 3, 2014 (minus the couple of games he played in 2016). even when Michael was out hurt, he would always return to the 3 spot, which he rightfully earned after his outstanding 2014 and 2015 seasons. even manager Terry Francona admitted to essentially building the lineup around Michael in the 3 hole. but while Michael was on the 10-Day DL battling his right ankle sprain in the second half of 2017, Jose Ramirez replaced him in the 3 hole. and Tito liked what he brought to that spot so much that he decided to continue letting Ramirez bat 3rd whether Michael was playing or not.

Michael started the 2018 campaign on the 10-Day DL and he remained in Arizona as he continued to build up endurance after spending another offseason/spring training rehabbing, this time from right ankle surgery. once he returned to the Tribe, Michael alternated between the Tribe's cleanup hitter and 5 hole hitter, depending on

Brantley's 2018 Game-by-Game Numbers & Notes

hi again, Brantley fans! it's time for my series of wrap up blogs where i break down Michael's 2018 season numbers in a couple different ways, so as not to overwhelm you all with a plethora of stats and information.🕮

i'm going to begin with a post concentrating on Michael's 2018 Game-by-Game Numbers and Notes.🖩📓


for the third straight year, Michael was behind everyone in spring as he was working to come back from an injury. this time his delay was a result of the right ankle surgery that he had in October 2017 for ankle synovitis and a deltoid ligament sprain. Michael spent most of spring training still rehabbing from his surgery while the rest of the Indians played in Cactus League games. in the middle of March, Michael finally got some game action, first with the minor leaguers before "graduating" to playing with his Tribe teammates. but since he only played in three Cactus League contests, it was decided that Michael would open the season on the 10-Day DL in order to continue building up his endurance to ensure that he'd be capable of playing full games right away upon his return.

Michael only missed the first

Brantley's May 2018 #s

what's up, Brantley fans? thank you all who read my Brantley's March/April 2018 #s blog. it was a long one, but i hope you found it informative and worth your time.😀

i also want to thank and welcome my new viewers from Cameroon! hi!👋 i'm honored that you found my site and it's great to see Michael has fans all the way in Central Africa!👌 throughout the duration of this month, my site saw the most visitors from Russia, the United States, and Germany (in that order). props to all of you in those countries for keeping up with all the news about Dr. Smooth and i appreciate all of your clicks.👍 leave a comment below and let me know you were here. then check back next month to see if there were any changes in where my largest audience is coming from. feel free to share my posts to better your chances of being in the Top 3!🥇🥈🥉

as i stated in my previously monthly blog, you're going to get two posts from me filled with numbers and statistics at the end of every month now. this one focuses on May and May alone. the upcoming second post will contain Michael's overall numbers and stats so far for 2018 and will be linked at the bottom of this blog once i finish it.

and if you haven't heard, 2018 MLB All Star Game voting begins

Brantley's March/April 2018 #s

hi, Brantley fans! i'm back with the first monthly blog of the 2018 regular season!📅 as i left off in my previous post, Michael Brantley was activated from the disabled list on April 6 after opening the year on the 10-Day DL. despite his time in extended spring, Michael received additional days off in April in an effort to make sure the left fielder didn't overexert himself as he continued to get back to playing on a regular basis again. (btw, if you haven't read my two Brantley's Cactus League 2018 Rehab blog posts, i will link them here: Rehab Details and Rehab #s. if you did already read them, thank you so much!🤗)

the team's caution seems to be working because so far, Michael's ankle has been holding up well and he repeatedly says he feels great. (we can't ask for more than that, right?) the DL stint and extra time off, however, resulted in Michael only playing in two-thirds of the games this month. nevertheless, there's a lot of things to discuss and i'm going to get into it all for you shortly. but first, i need to go over some important information.

ordinarily, i like to acknowledge viewers from countries who've never visited my blog before in my intro. well, i didn't see any new countries in my audience over the past month. my readers come from many different places all around the world and at this point, i think it will be a surprise if any newbies pop up here going forward. (i'd love it if they did though!) so instead, when no new views appear, i'm going to shout out the Top 3 countries to view my blog. in April, those include

Brantley's 2017 Batting Order Position & LF/PH/DH #s

let's keep this series of wrap up blogs going with my breakdowns of Michael Brantley's BOP numbers for 2017.

not one Cleveland Indians player bat in the same spot in the lineup for the entire year, but Michael sure came close. when he was healthy, he owned the 3rd spot--at least until the end of the season, that is. Terry Francona really liked Michael batting in the 3 hole, so much so that he repeatedly defended his choice to critics. the guys hitting in front of and behind Michael, however, changed numerous times throughout the 2017 campaign.

Carlos Santana was batting leadoff for the team when the season got underway. Francisco Lindor bat 2nd ahead of Michael, with Edwin Encarnacion batting cleanup and Jose Ramirez hitting in the 5th spot. Yandy Diaz, Lonnie Chisenhall, and Jason Kipnis all got their turns batting 6th in April.

in May, Tito settled on a lineup with Kip leading off, and Lindor, Brant, Santana, Encarnacion, and Ramirez batting consecutively after him. June's main lineup was similar to what it was in May until Michael went

Brantley's 2016 Batting Order Position & LF/PH #s

this blog is the second in what i'm referring to as my Brantley wrap up series. happily, i can reveal that there's definitely more numbers in this one than in my first because the core of it revolves around Michael's BOPs. and even though he played in just 11 games, he did bat in three spots in the order; therefore, i have stuff to break down.

note: if you don't recall, Michael played 11 minor league games while on his rehab assignments this year in addition to playing in the big leagues. i am only breaking down the numbers from his time with the Indians here. if you want to see his overall rehab number breakdowns, please read the Brantley's Overall 2016 Minor League Rehab #s blog.


Michael didn't play much in 2016, yet he finished the year with three different batting order positions on record. the original plan was for Michael to reclaim his 3rd spot in the lineup again this season once he was done rehabbing from his offseason right shoulder surgery and ready to rejoin the Indians. well that got scrapped before he even came off the disabled list. while Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor were batting 1 and 2 against right-handed starters, Terry Francona was content with Rajai Davis leading off in front of them against left-handed starters. so it was assumed, when Michael came back, that he would bat

Brantley's 2016 Game-by-Game Numbers & Notes

now it's time to start posting my series of Michael Brantley wrap up blogs. [insert the "but hasn't his season been wrapped up since May 9?" joke here if you must, but i have writing to do regardless.] despite the abnormality that Michael didn't play much in 2016, i'm still going to follow my usual format of splitting everything up in several posts even though the amount of information this year is minor.

the primary focus of this first blog is Michael's game-by-game numbers and notes. however, i have to tell ya, there are more notes than numbers.

Michael had the most injury-riddled season he's ever experienced in the major leagues. it was full of peaks and valleys, progressions and setbacks, smiles and frowns. from opening the 2016 season on the DL, to playing 11 games with the Indians, to suffering right shoulder inflammation/a subacromial impingement and going back on the DL in May, to developing right biceps tendinitis in June, to going out on a minor league rehab assignment in July, to being diagnosed with chronic right biceps tendinitis in August and consequently undergoing season-ending biceps tenodesis (surgery), Michael battled so many challenges. he was basically on a roller coaster ride and, unfortunately, it had a rough ending.

there's no question Michael

Brantley's 2016 #s Through May

this blog contains Michael's 2016 season numbers through the month of May. it follows the same format as my monthly blogs, except the sections have been rearranged and some have been omitted. also, due to Michael's lack of play through May, this blog has less information in it than usual.


so far in 2016, Michael has 43 plate appearances and 39 at bats in 11 games (89.1 innings). in total, he has 9 hits, 2 extra base hits, 7 singles, 2 doubles, 7 RBI, 1 sac fly, 5 runs, 3 walks, 1 intentional walk, 1 stolen base (3rd), 1 GIDP, 6 strikeouts (3 swinging, 3 looking), 1 first at bat hit, 11 total bases, 14 left on base, 18 putouts, and 1 assist.

2016 batting average through May:

Brantley's April 2016 #s

Michael Brantley spent most of the month of April on the DL, as he was still trying to make his way back from offseason right shoulder surgery. during his rehab, he played seven games with minor league teams in advance of finally being activated by the Indians on April 25. despite him not playing very much with the big league team this month, the blog must go on. this one will be shorter than usual though, something i think everyone will appreciate after the previous two LONG blogs i posted about his rehabilitation. (if you have not read those yet, they can be found here and here.)

before i get into Michael's April, let me provide a quick rundown of how i do these monthly blogs, just in case you're a new or recent reader of my blogspot. last year, i began sectioning out specific topics of discussion so they'd be easier to see and allow you the option to skim through certain parts or skip to the sections you were most interested in. i'm going to continue doing that, and the divisions generally include:

--a monthly overview
--areas of concern
--lineup changes
--health ailments affecting Michael's performance
--team batting title competition
--HR:RBI ratio, LOB, K Rate, and Outs
--streaks and situational statistics (ie. hit in/reached in, RHP/LHP, home/away, RISP, runners on, bases loaded, bases empty, multi-hit games, multi-RBI games, go-ahead hits/RBI)