Well, to me the point that's important to make is that the amount of at bats that people are drawing these conclusions for are really small. The one guy quoted, what was it, 60 at bats? 60 at bats is about two weeks at the plate. Thats a pretty darn small number of at bats with which to judge someone. Jeter was batting about .205 a month and a half into last season, in many more than 60 at bats. Of course, Jeter isn't a .205 hitter and given enough at bats he was able to show that. I think if you looked at the "clutch" situations over the course of arods entire career, his stats in those situations would pretty closely reflect the numbers he normally puts up. Here's another question for the people who strongly believe that clutch hitting is something that definetly exists: if Jeter or Ortiz has some inherent ability to raise his level of game in important situations, then why dont they play like that all the time? If Jeter is hitting .400 in clutch situations this year, then that must mean he's hitting significantly below his season average in "normal" situations. If Jeter actually does have the ability to focus and perform at a higher level at certain times, then that means that he also suffers from a comparitive lack of "focus" during situations that aren't as important. I just don't buy it. Jeter performs well in clutch situations because he always performs well. Arod's numbers will reflect that given enough at bats (and actually do reflect it if a lot people actually bothered to look at some numbers).
I agree with most of whats been said. Since coming to the yankees, A-rod has not performed in clutch situations. but something is definatly very wrong with the dude. he went from an MVP season (although i would have given it to ortiz) to not being able to catch up to a 91 mile per hour fastballs and his knees look the hes in the matrix on every thing soft. he brings his top hand over, and tries to pull every pitch. when was the last time you saw him go oppo? whens hes going, he hits the ball all over the field. all of his hits seem to be by the shortstop or doubles past the third basemen. what im trying to say is, it think its completely a mental issue. and to me, thats worse than a hitch or physical problem. a man with so much natural ability, incredible statistics.... can just play like an absolute bitch--- who is becoming a liability in our offense. if he continues his weak performance, even into the postseason (knock on wood), i say you gotta try to move him. the yankees would have to take the bulk of the salary, but we could prob get a very good player (pitcher) in return. but hey, im not mr. cashman...
I don't believe clutch hitting exists, but I do believe you can be not clutch. ARod is an unclutch player. That can change if he gets more comfortable or something, but I do not believe Jeter or Ortiz is more clutch than other players. They just don't panic as much as other players/pitchers might in a big spot, so they have a bit of an advantage. Pitchers are scared of Ortiz in a big spot now, so they play unclutchly.
I do believe in clutch hitting. It is true that you have to be a good player in the first place, but "clutch" hitters are able to do the same job, even in a situation where nerves can get in the way. When it's the bottom of the ninth, you have one on with two outs, down by one, usually the pitcher is at an advantage. Clutch hitters turn that around and take advantage of the mistakes, rather than swing at a bad pitch. That's what a Jeter or Ortiz brings to the plate. ARod submits to the pressure. His stats tell a false story. Sure, he is still putting up very good numbers, even for a cleanup guy. It's when he puts up the big hits that matters. He isn't doing it when it matters. I refused for a long time to accept that his numbers are nothing more than padded stats. He gets a ton of RBI and hits. However, he doesn't do it when the Yankees are down by a run, or runners are in scoring position. A very telling stat is something Kay brought up a couple weeks ago. ARod has the second worst average with a runner on third in the league. So you can argue it's a small number of at-bats, but considering he can't have that many fewer at-bats in the same situation as any other player (and actually, as a Yankee probably has more opportunities,) he is showing he has more ability to fail in a big situation than the vast majority of big leaguers.
Why should we care about non-clutch situations and non-playoff games? Clutch and postseason are what it's all about, I don't care if a guy puts up "great #s" if he doesn't get it done when we need it most.
You sound like champ, should MLB cancel the regular season? Or maybe you could just start taping the games and only watching the wins?
He said "clutch and postseason". The reg season means something but i couldn't care less if he's getting hits in non-clutch situations and let's not start on his postseason production w/ the yanks. I'll be more than fine w/ his reg season this year IF he has a big postseason. I'd rather he have a subpar reg season and big postseason than last year when he did the opposite.
But I would expect someones regular season play to just carry over, I doubt a light just turns on in a slumping players head. Arod is just gonna have more pressure on him come playoffs, but I think this whole thing has really gotten to his head.
his "MVP" season didn't carry into October last year. maybe w/ the terrible reg season he has had he looks at it as a new start, relaxes a bit and plays like he is capable of playing.
I'm not counting on it. A-Rod has had about 6 "turning points" this year, and has pronounced that he's ready for a big second half of the season on about 5 other occations. He's a fraud.
I don't buy it. The 60 at bats are pretty much spread evenly over the course of a season. So they pretty much discount any slump that you may have had, because only a couple of at bats in that scenerio would have come in a time period in which you just weren't hitting the ball in general (which every hitter has). In political elections, the polls that they have prior to the election only poll maybe a couple of thousand voters on behalf of a whole nation. Those polls are accurate to a couple of percentage points, but the respondents are spread out across demographics relative to the current demographics of the country. It's an accurate, diverse sample. It's the same with A-Rod. Taking the at bats that fit the scenerio which we're trying to figure out. It's pretty accurate. Plus, can you honestly tell me that you any longer have confidence in A-Rod in a big spot near the end of the game? One point proves another.
more A-Rod debates.............YAY maybe if the mets werent so good this yr us yanks wouldnt look like this when A-Rod was brought up
