Mains: Taking the ‘hitter’ out of pinch-hitter

July 17, 2019/in /by admin

From SABR member Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus on July 17, 2019:

I help out with the depth charts here at Baseball Prospectus. We project playing time for pitchers and position players, including pinch-hitters. In looking over the year-to-date figures, something struck me.

Which batter would you rather have? (All figures are per 502 plate appearances.)

	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Player A	502	420	18	51	5	3	0	36	13	211	.123	.149	.147	.296
Player B	502	413	33	22	0	0	11	33	89	201	.054	.222	.135	.357

The correct answer, of course, is “neither.” Probably “Player B” though, right, because of the walks and the dingers? No good choices there.

Read the full article here: https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/51635/flu-like-symptoms-taking-the-hitter-out-of-pinch-hitter/

---

Originally published: July 17, 2019. Last Updated: July 17, 2019.