Mains: On the space between clutch and coin flips
From SABR member Rob Mains at Baseball Prospectus on May 12, 2016:
If you spend a lot of time behind the wheel, you might have satellite radio. If you spend a lot of time behind the wheel and you’re a baseball fan, you might have SiriusXM so you can listen to home radio broadcasts of games. (This is not a commercial. This is just a statement of facts.) If you spend a lot of time behind the wheel and you’re a baseball fan, though, you can’t listen to games all day, for the simple reason that baseball is not played around the clock. So when there isn’t a game on, you might listen to MLB Network Radio, a SiriusXM station.
I sometimes spend a lot of time behind the wheel, and when there isn’t a game on, I often listen to MLB Network Radio. I like some of the shows better than others. Some have strong elements of sportstalk radio, and like all sportstalk radio, you sometimes hear things that are, well, interesting.
A while ago one of the hosts—not a caller—was talking about Rougned Odor. Odor has had a pretty good start to his season. He’s also been better with runners in scoring position (.360/.407/.600 through Monday) than not (.283/.309/.528). The host said that some batters are consistently better with runners in scoring position (henceforth RISP) than they are otherwise.
Now, I don’t want to get into a fight over clutch hitting. Much smarter people have debated this. Some aren’t buying it. Others think there might be something there. It’s easy to get lost in the fog. So I’m going to sidestep the whole clutch thing and instead look at the simple question: Are some players better at hitting with runners in scoring position?
Read the full article here: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=29164
Originally published: May 12, 2016. Last Updated: May 12, 2016.