And as for the other bogeyman, clutch hitting...
Jun 3, 2024 18:02:05 GMT -5
kaybli, rizzuto, and 1 more like this
Post by qwik3457bb on Jun 3, 2024 18:02:05 GMT -5
One of the big complaints about the Yanks during the Judge-Sanchez-Torres-Severino years is that they can't hit elite pitching because their big sluggers have too many holes top pitching can find and this leads to almost unrelenting RISP fails in games and in the post-season. Given the heroics in the 9th inning yesterday, this also seems a good (if selectively biased) moment to take a look at that aspect of the 2024 Yankees.
The MLB quadruple slash with RISP is .253/.332/.404/.735. The Yanks are 6th in BAVG (.273), 7th in OBA (.349), 3rd in slugging (.491) and 5th in OPS (.841). The surprise team in this area is the Guardians, who have been otherworldly: .299/.392/.508/.899. Last year, the Yanks were (as anyone who watched their nearly daily exercises in massive RISPfails can tell you) dreadful with RISP: .227/.310/.367/.677 (29th across the board in all four quadruple slash statistics).
2 outs and RISP: the major league quaruple slash is .230/.326/.377/.703, Yanks are .223 (17th), .321 (17th), .391 (12th) and .717 (13th). Last year, they hugged the bottom in this category, too 27th, 29th, 27th an 28th.
Late and close: .236 (16th), .328 (14th), .407 (7th) and .436 (9th). The MLB average is .233/.318/.363/.681. Last year, the Yanke were: 16th, 20th, 10th and 15th.
Tie game: .259 (4th), .356 (1st), .455 (3rd) and .811 (1st). The MLB average is .238/.311/.391/.701. Last year, the Yanks were 28th, 27th, 21st, and 26th.
High Leverage: .271 (5th), .346 (5th), .517 (1st) and .863 (1st). The MLB average is .245/.322/.391/.713. Last year, the Yanks were 25th, 26th, 16th and 19th.
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So if you've watched and thought how the team has enourmously improved in its clutch hitting so far this year, you're not being deceived. It's light-years better than last year and much much better than even the "contending" teams of the years before whose bats disappeared in the onslaught of elite pitching they faced once playoff time came around each season.
See what adding an elite bat like Soto...
(and here, I'm speaking not of a hitter like Judge who manufactures elite overall production while still having large holes exploitable by the pitchers who throw for other teams in the playoffs, but more hitters like Brett, Molitor, Eddie Murray, Manny, Ortiz, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols; men who fear no pitcher, whose elite eye and bat speed make them very difficult to trick into swing and misses, chases, or weak hacks)
...can do to anchor a lineup? Of course, he's not the only big change. Verdugo has been a vital cog replacing the AAAA players who played the flank fields last year. Volpe 2.0 is a vast improvement on the rookie version. Stanton has become, if not elite again, then productive again. All these things and others are combining to change the Yanks from a dreadful offensive team last year to one of the top hitting teams in MLB. It's just 61 games, 101 to go, but they're on pace to score 120 more runs than last year, an enormous improvement. Soto is responsible personally for half of it, but the synergistic effects, (most importantly, taking the psychological "load" off the other hitters) is a large part of the other half, along with the self-improvement efforts of Volpe, Stanton, Cabrera and others. And all this with a subpar Gleyber Torres, who was, amazingly enough, the 2nd best hitter on the team last year.
As much as with the improvement in team fielding (and maybe more), I hope they can keep this improved hitting in big spots up all the way through the post-season.
The MLB quadruple slash with RISP is .253/.332/.404/.735. The Yanks are 6th in BAVG (.273), 7th in OBA (.349), 3rd in slugging (.491) and 5th in OPS (.841). The surprise team in this area is the Guardians, who have been otherworldly: .299/.392/.508/.899. Last year, the Yanks were (as anyone who watched their nearly daily exercises in massive RISPfails can tell you) dreadful with RISP: .227/.310/.367/.677 (29th across the board in all four quadruple slash statistics).
2 outs and RISP: the major league quaruple slash is .230/.326/.377/.703, Yanks are .223 (17th), .321 (17th), .391 (12th) and .717 (13th). Last year, they hugged the bottom in this category, too 27th, 29th, 27th an 28th.
Late and close: .236 (16th), .328 (14th), .407 (7th) and .436 (9th). The MLB average is .233/.318/.363/.681. Last year, the Yanke were: 16th, 20th, 10th and 15th.
Tie game: .259 (4th), .356 (1st), .455 (3rd) and .811 (1st). The MLB average is .238/.311/.391/.701. Last year, the Yanks were 28th, 27th, 21st, and 26th.
High Leverage: .271 (5th), .346 (5th), .517 (1st) and .863 (1st). The MLB average is .245/.322/.391/.713. Last year, the Yanks were 25th, 26th, 16th and 19th.
================
So if you've watched and thought how the team has enourmously improved in its clutch hitting so far this year, you're not being deceived. It's light-years better than last year and much much better than even the "contending" teams of the years before whose bats disappeared in the onslaught of elite pitching they faced once playoff time came around each season.
See what adding an elite bat like Soto...
(and here, I'm speaking not of a hitter like Judge who manufactures elite overall production while still having large holes exploitable by the pitchers who throw for other teams in the playoffs, but more hitters like Brett, Molitor, Eddie Murray, Manny, Ortiz, Miguel Cabrera, Albert Pujols; men who fear no pitcher, whose elite eye and bat speed make them very difficult to trick into swing and misses, chases, or weak hacks)
...can do to anchor a lineup? Of course, he's not the only big change. Verdugo has been a vital cog replacing the AAAA players who played the flank fields last year. Volpe 2.0 is a vast improvement on the rookie version. Stanton has become, if not elite again, then productive again. All these things and others are combining to change the Yanks from a dreadful offensive team last year to one of the top hitting teams in MLB. It's just 61 games, 101 to go, but they're on pace to score 120 more runs than last year, an enormous improvement. Soto is responsible personally for half of it, but the synergistic effects, (most importantly, taking the psychological "load" off the other hitters) is a large part of the other half, along with the self-improvement efforts of Volpe, Stanton, Cabrera and others. And all this with a subpar Gleyber Torres, who was, amazingly enough, the 2nd best hitter on the team last year.
As much as with the improvement in team fielding (and maybe more), I hope they can keep this improved hitting in big spots up all the way through the post-season.
People remember what they consider critical events and define that as clutch, but they might well not remember similar events. That is not statistics. I suspect the reality is the yankees simply hit more.