Late/Close Situations
Remarkable numbers from Jose Altuve
Continuing our theme of clutch performance from batters, today we look at Late/Close stats from Baseball-Reference.com’s database.
Earlier we examined hitting in clutch situations and batting with two outs and runners in scoring position.
Today we take a look at the Late/Close situation and which batters performed the best in 2023.
What Jose Altuve did in 2023 in these situations was incredible. Not just the .341 average, but the .750 slug, 1.146 OPS and 225 OPS+, plus the fact that Altuve hit 5 home runs in just 48 plate appearances and 44 at bats in such situations is unreal.
Everyone else’s stats pale in comparison, but Kyle Tucker was very good here, too, even besting Altuve in OBP.
Something that should be acknowledged in these “clutch” (using the term in a general sense) situations is the struggle for Jeremy Pena and Yainer Diaz in most categories, though there are exceptions (Pena hit well with two outs and RISP).
Between the two they had 150 at-bats 0 home runs and 7 RBI in late/close situations, with just 7 extra-base hits (all doubles) and Diaz had 0 walks in 74 such plate appearances. Remarkable.
I’m not sure what to make of that as a lot of these stats are generally not predictive and these guys could very well do better in 2024 in these very same categories.
I know this, though: Situational hitting is important. Not all .300 averages are the same.
I’m working on putting a tool together to show all of these clutch-type situations in one post. Hopefully, that comes together shortly.
Thanks for reading!