Bryce Harper and Anthony Rizzo hit leadoff Tuesday. If you're hoping this is a sign baseball is finally getting it, prepare to be disappointed. Harper is being moved up for a couple days to get better pitches to hit. Rizzo batted first in an effort to bust out of a prolonged slump.

Whatever the motivation, the returns were strong. Harper launched a three-run homer Robert Alford Jerseys in the fifth inning off the Pirates' Chad Kuhl that broke open a Nationals win. He also walked once. Rizzo homered on the first pitch he saw from the Rockies' Jon Gray for what turned out to be the Cubs' only run in a lo s.

This wasn't the first time these players had hit at the top of the order: Harper batted leadoff in 16 games in 2013; Rizzo occupied the 1-hole for a week-plus last June, when he went on a tear.

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After seeing both players thrive as table-settersagain,it was time to ask a variation of the old question: Should teams put their best hitters and/or top sluggers at the top of the order in place of hitters who can get on base and run but have average to below-averagepop?

At the moment, even in this enlightened age of baseball, managers lean toward doing things the way they've always been done, with some notableexceptions:Mookie Betts, Charlie Blackmon, George Springer and, potentially, Yoan Moncada.

Even Rizzo fed into that entrenched thinking Tuesday night.

"I'm not a typical speed guy leading off," .

The stats say managers' adherence to the stereotype isn't working so Antonio Hamilton Jerseys great, especially in the National League.

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Harper and Rizzo's leadoff cameos coincided with the beginning of May, which in turn created a convenient cutoff point to examine the season stats of No. 1 hitters in baseball. Prior to Tuesday, 90 different major leaguers (39 in the American League, 51in the National League) had started at least one game in the leadoff spot, and many more in-game subs and NL relievers had hit in the top spot.

A look at the respective slash lines through April for all batters who hit in the 1-hole, per Baseball-reference.com:

American League: 1,946 PAs; .254/.334/.425; .759 OPSNational League: 2,001 PAs; .249/.329/.383; .713 OPS

Both OPS totals were higher than the respective full-league averages (by 27 points in the AL and seven points in the NL), but they were still lower than a number of other batting-order spots. No. 1 hitters in the AL were fourth in OPS among the nine Marco Wilson Jerseys spots in the order, while NL No. 1 hitters were sixth out of nine spots.

OBP was higher than both leagues' averages, too, but the AL had much better balance than the NL in that category. Among the most-used No. 1 hitters on each AL team, just two were below fifth in OBP for their clubs. On the NL side, almost half, or seven, such hitters were sixth or worse on their team in OBP.

The difference in slugging was fueled by AL No. 1 hitters building sizable leadsinhome run percentage(3.0-2.2) andextra-base hit percentage (8.5-7.0). They did that while also striking out le s(19.7 percent to 21.3 percent). NL hitters walked (9.9 percent to 9.7 percent) and stole (51-44) slightly more.

Expect the power gap to widen: The offense-minded AL's most-used leadoff hitters in April included Betts (eight home runs), Springer (six), Moncada (six), Shin-Soo Choo (five), Dozier (four), Francisco Lindor(four) and Trey Mancini (two, but 24 dingers in 2017). Blackmon (six), David Peralta (five), Lorenzo Cain and Chris Taylor (four) lead the NL

Let's amend that thought: Expect the power gap to widen D.J. Humphries Jerseys unle s NL skippers decide to learn from the example of their AL brethren and put a few more Harpers and Rizzos at the top of theirorders.