Now that we have all had time to digest the biggest news of the day, the question becomes how does Eric Hosmer fit into the current lineup of the Kansas City Royals. Before his demotion, Kila Ka`aihue had been moved down from fourth in the order to often batting seventh as he tried to find a grove.
From the start, I believer Hosmer should likely bat seventh as well. The heart of the Royals lineup has seemed to form a good chemistry of late with Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, and Jeff Francoeur combing for the 3-4-5 spots of the order and Wilson Betemit and Mike Aviles have been hitting well enough to justify hitting sixth. Aviles often will be the leadoff hitter on days when Chris Getz is out of the lineup, while he moves down in the order when both he and Getz are playing on the same day.
With a young player, you often want to minimize the pressure they will feel by adjusting your lineup even though their power numbers have the potential to suggest they will be one of the better hitters on the team. Looking back at last year, Jason Heyward of the Braves batted seventh when he made his major league debut before settling in at the three spot this year. If you go back to the fall of 2007 when Joey Votto got his first start for the Reds, he was actually betting eighth before he climbed up in the order.
Taking this all into account, Hosmer fits well in the seven spot with catchers Brayan Pena or Matt Treanor batting eighth and then Alcides Escobar batting ninth.