| So, I've been really getting into the new breed of statistical analysis that baseball people have been using (Billy Beane, Theo Epstein, and the like). There is a theory among SABRmetricians that there is no such thing as "clutch" hitting. Namely, David Ortiz comes up big in clutch situations simply because he's a good hitter.
Well, I don't really agree with this at all. Baseball players are people, not robots. they do get affected by pressure, and some people don't handle pressure well.
I was just looking at some of A-Rod's numbers, and found some interesting stuff.
Career regular season OPS: .961
Career postseason OPS: .872
Career OPS Innings 1-6: .993
Career OPS Innings 7+: .886
So then, I decided to take a gander at Ortiz's numbers. Needless to say, I was a little surprised.
Career regular season OPS: .907
Career postseason OPS: .877
OPS Innings 1-6: .916
OPS Innings 7+: .885
Hmmm....surprising, to say the least. |