MLB 2015 Season
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Kirun
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Eh, RBIs are a pretty good indicator of a hitter's ability to come through in "clutch" or otherwise important situations. A .450 avg means a hell of a lot less to me if you can't get on base when it "matters".
opiate82
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"Clutch" hitting is a controversial subject and there is some pretty good evidence out there that it might not exist (or if it does, it doesn't matter as much as we think it does).Here is a pretty good write upon the issues which includes links to some of the research that has been done on the subject, but this particular paragraph sums up the problem I've always had with "clutch" hitting regardless if it exists or not:
Tarrant
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.450 means they get on base. Getting on base when it matters is literally every at bat.
Again, said batter batting in the 3 slot gets a ton of RBI's....then slides down the 7 slot and doesn't get those opportunities as much doesn't mean he is any less clutch because he has no people to bat in. (Granted if you're batting .450 you'll probably be earlier in the order but the point stands. RBI's are a dumb metric because they are 80% dependent on those batting before you.)
Kirun
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I get what they are trying to argue. Essentially, if you're just a good hitter at all times, you always appear "clutch". It's a very obvious case of, "no shit". In reality, the pressure of the situation gets to a lot of batters and they end up shortening their swings, swinging at stuff outside the zone they normally wouldn't, etc.
While I agree that RBIs are entirely dependent on the hitters in front of you, I'd still take the hitter who bats .500 with RISP and .250 elsewhere, versus a hitter who consistently stays in the .320-.360 range. I also realize I don't get deep into the analytics of these scenarios, so the math may favor the guy who consistently bats .330.
opiate82
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Actually I would say the opposite, if a player truly is clutch you really shouldn't notice he's clutch, you should just think he is consistent.
These guys basically don't exist. Over the course of a career just about every single player will closely match their total career averages in these situations. The very few exceptions that are out there are more likely to be anomalies of sample size than they are due to some innate ability or inability to hit better with RISP (or other high leverage situations). We just get fooled as fan because of the small sample sizes of these situations a player faces season-to-season and our tendency to remember those moments where they did come through much more vividly.
Ritley
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Woah, I said I agree with you on RBI. It's about as useless an indicator of player performance as Wins for a pitcher
Ritley
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I'm not sure that's true always true, but not because of the player just hitting better. Some batters have a better average with RISP just because the position of the infield when runners are on.
Has nothing to do with "clutch" hitting.
Uber Uberest
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PatrickStar
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Just another day for the Nats. Desmond blows a few plays for some unearned runs, the offense sucked balls again and it's a 3-1 loss.
Astros 2015 team of destiny!
Keuchel looking sharp so far. This ump's strike zone is ten shades of fucked up, though. Called a strike on the first pitch, and it was practically in the dirt.
Keuchel looking sharp so far. This ump's strike zone is ten shades of fucked up, though. Called a strike on the first pitch, and it was practically in the dirt.
opiate82
Bronze Squire
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I don't know guys, the Mariners are trying this new thing called "scoring runs" this year. They must have read about it in Moneyball or something, I dunno but so far it is working for them. (Sorry if that is too sabermetric-y for you, most of the Seattle fans don't understand it either).
Gankak
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We don't understand it because we haven't been able to do it very well since 2001
Ritley
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Royals looking fan-fucking-tastic. Really excited about rios with how he has been playing this spring and the first game. Hopefully going to be a huge comeback year for him
Fuck, even moose might hit over .210 this year! First opposite field home run of his career, maybe all the work he put into trying to beat the shift payed off
Fuck, even moose might hit over .210 this year! First opposite field home run of his career, maybe all the work he put into trying to beat the shift payed off
Joeboo
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If Moose could somehow just hit .250 with 20-25HR this year, it would be stellar.
And goddamn that Royals game was scary yesterday. Ventura just drops to the ground in excruciating pain clutching his throwing hand for no reason, Lorenzo Cain tries to leg-out an infield grounder to 1st, and slips on the bag and damn near sprains his ankle/breaks his leg. If those two guys had gone to the DL on opening day, the season would already be over for the Royals.
I definitely see a bench-clearing brawl between the White sox & Royals at some point this season, lot of bad blood just from this first game (Samardzija intentionally hitting Cain after a Moustakas HR)
And goddamn that Royals game was scary yesterday. Ventura just drops to the ground in excruciating pain clutching his throwing hand for no reason, Lorenzo Cain tries to leg-out an infield grounder to 1st, and slips on the bag and damn near sprains his ankle/breaks his leg. If those two guys had gone to the DL on opening day, the season would already be over for the Royals.
I definitely see a bench-clearing brawl between the White sox & Royals at some point this season, lot of bad blood just from this first game (Samardzija intentionally hitting Cain after a Moustakas HR)