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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Jaso to bat leadoff this afternoon

Posted Jun 5, 2010 by Roger Mooney

Updated Jun 5, 2010 at 03:36 PM

ROGER MOONEY
ARLINGTON - Catcher John Jaso was getting changed in the clubhouse this morning when manager Joe Maddon approached wearing a grin.

“See the lineup yet?” Maddon asked.

So Jaso walked over and checked the lineup posted on the wall.

“I knew something interesting was up,” Jaso said.

Guess who’s batting leadoff?

John Jaso.

“Pretty surprising,” Jaso said. “Even more surprising than seeing my name in the three hole.”

Maddon said he has been thinking about moving Jaso to leadoff for about a week, and figured today’s matchup against Rangers right-hander Tommy Hunter was as good a time as any to give it a try. Maddon also said this isn’t a one-game deal or a one-game trial for Jaso. We can expect to see the catcher batting leadoff again.

“I’m just trying to set things up for Longo as best we can,” Maddon said.

Jaso leads all major league rookies with a .425 on-base percentage, he’s third among all rookies in batting (.304), third in RBIs (19) and fourth in slugging percentage (.435). Jaso also leads all AL rookies with a .355 average with runners in scoring position.

Jaso said he couldn’t recall another time when he batted leadoff.

“This is a first for me,” he said.

Ever?

“Ever. I don’t think in high school, Little League, anything like that. ... I think it’s all those stolen bases I have (zero), all the drag bunts I’ve laid down, all those things adding up. Why not?” he joked.

Bench coach Dave Martinez talked to Jaso and told him not to change his approach at the plate.

How about his approach on the bases? What if Carl Crawford gets on base behind him?

“That is true,” Jaso said. “I think that’s going to come with good base running, getting good jumps on balls. Feel him breathing down the back of my neck, there’s problems there. Just with good base running I’ll be all right.”

Here is the rest of the Rays lineup:
Jaso C
Crawford LF
Longoria 3B
Zobrist RF
Pena 1B
Blalock DH
Rodriguez 2B
Brignac SS
Upton CF
—-
Shields P