105 replies to this topic

[You Play to Win the Game]

Ricker Says, Kevin Ebert, and myself had a conversation last night about clutchness and I made the point that I'm not a big believer in clutch, but I do think some guys are better at hitting good pitching than others, and in the playoffs or in late and close situations, you're more likely to face good pitching so that affects some clutch numbers.

Hamilton is a good case of this as he hit bad starting pitching at a much better rate than others compared to how he hit good starting pitching. Chris Davis is at the top of that list as well.

Here's a clip of Clubhouse Confidential that talks about this: http://mlb.mlb.com/v...pic_id=25929170

Yeah, I didn't survive that "war"!

Good stuff here.

[mweb08]

Yeah, I didn't survive that "war"!

Good stuff here.

Ha, you were fine.

BTW, the example I mentioned of Eddie Murray is a good one: http://www.baseball-... ... Career&t=b

An OPS almost 100 points higher with RISP compared to without and an .873 OPS in high leverage vs a .809 in low leverage.

He's one of the outliers in terms of being clutch.

[The Epic]

With regard to the note about Steve Sax being clutch, this is the article I was referring to:

http://bleacherrepor... ... uy-into-it

[mweb08]

With regard to the note about Steve Sax being clutch, this is the article I was referring to:

http://bleacherrepor... ... uy-into-it

Thanks. Looking at Sax's clutch numbers, I don't see much of a clutch gain. Raines, however was quite a bit better in clutch situations for his career.

[bnickle]

I don't believe in someone being clutch as much as I believe in people being unclutch. By that I mean, I think there are some people who let a clutch moment overwhelm them, they become more tight, heart quickens and it's just impossible to stay loose and be yourself in big moments. So no, I don't particularly believe a reg .250 hitter can some how flip a clutch switch and become better than they are normally in a clutch situation. I do believe a reg .300 hitter can become a worse hitter in "clutch" situations. Big, clutch situations are about being able to remain the player you are normally than about becoming something better than you are normally.

[The Epic]

Thanks. Looking at Sax's clutch numbers, I don't see much of a clutch gain. Raines, however was quite a bit better in clutch situations for his career.

If it helps, the analysis was from the 80's. When you look at the numbers from 1991-1994 (you can use B-R or FG for that), he was incredibly full of teh suck. Raines and Sax were both in the 4.0-4.3 range for "clutchness" during that time.