Timely hitting
by Jason Wojciechowski Monday, October 29, 2012, 11:55 pm
In the interest of not subtweeting, let me point out this blog post by Andrew Brown at Swingin' A's and gently suggest that Mr. Brown, who believes the A's should re-sign Brandon Inge because of timely hitting, look at the existing literature on clutchness, which literature suggests that no such thing exists at the major-league level, or that if it does, it exists in such small quantities as to be undetectable.
While the psychology of clutchness is complicated, I would note that players are selected up through the minors for mental toughness and grace under pressure. It's part of what makes a good player good. It would stand to reason, then, that just as pitchers at the major-league level do not vary in BABIP ability as they do at the minor-league level, that hitters similarly do not vary as much in clutch ability. (Note the difference between something like clutchness/intestical fortitude and slugging percentage: the former is something everyone needs in the major leagues because major league baseball is hard and anxiety-inducing; the latter is not someone that everyone needs because some players can be good at defense or at getting on base rather than at slugging.)