Mike Fontenot started at second base yesterday in place of incumbent Ryan Theriot, and he hit a couple of hard ones, though he didn’t have much to show for it.
So was the start a one-day rest for Theriot, or the start of something bigger? Dare I suggest, a platoon?
“Fontenot’s had a good month,” Piniella said. “He’s swung the bat well. We’ll see how well Fontenot does, but I’m not going to say one way or another. This could be more than a one-day thing, yes.”
The May splits were quite different for Fontenot and Theriot. Fontenot entered Monday with a May hitting line of .378/.440/.689, while Theriot was at .238/.259/248, leading to the switch.
Fontenot had 5 doubles, 3 triples, 1 homer and 11 RBI. Theriot, on the other hand, had only 1 extra-base hit and 1 walk for the month.
“He’s swinging the bat, putting the ball in play,” Piniella said of Fontenot. “He’s done better. With Theriot, we’re talking about 1 walk the whole month. That’s kind of hard to do. We talked to him about it. He’s had 1 extra-base hit the whole month.
“But we’ll see. I like the energy that he brings. I like the way he plays baseball. Unfortunately for us, what we need here is offense.”
Theriot got into Monday’s game and ended it by striking out with a man on base.
“Obviously, you want to be in there playing,” he said. “But I can play other spots, as well. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. The main thing is to start winning ballgames, and hopefully we can do that.
“I don’t think he’s singling me out; I don’t think he’s taking me out. I’ve got more at-bats than anybody else on the team, so I don’t think it’s that at all. Mike’s swinging the bat well, and that might just be they want to get him some more ABs.” Daily Herald.
At this point, we can only pray for a platoon – Lou has never shown a penchant for using them, even when they make obvious sense.
As Theriot struggles, and seemingly refuses to change his approach at the plate, I’m reminded that this is the guy who took the Cubs to arbitration for the first time in over a decade.