He plays an exciting brand of baseball, with steals and decent defense and even an inside-the-park homerun. He's hitting consistently over .300...and while some of that is pinch hitting it's getting a bit too regular to dismiss it as situational or even platooning. His lefty bat is useful, especially with Willieball...

Simpler question...would anyone prefer to see KazMat getting starts instead of Marlon?

I see two common scenarios: what we just saw, 1 out or 2 out and the 8 hitter comes up and unless they homer they are unlikely to score or drive in many runs (the high-OBP players hitting earlier in the order, one presumes) or they come up with 0 out and the pitcher bunts them to second hoping the leadoff guy (not usually an RBI-type hitter) can drive them home.

So that makes me think the 8 hole is perfectly suited for one of the Dave Kingman types, who either hits homers or strikes out. Because if there are 1 or 2 outs you want this guy to hit a homer and clear the bases because otherwise his production is likely going to be wasted there. If he strikes out, inning over and maybe the pitcher leads off or just follows with the third out, but that's not necessarily the 8-batters fault.

Usually these Kingman types hit 5th, 6th, or worst of all, cleanup, and they generally kill rallies there nestled amongst high-OBP guys. One has to imagine you want to play all or nothing with your 8-hole batter, if you can convince these ego-laden heavy hitters to play for you there.

We're just about to seal this thing...