[quote]Originally posted by Arbiter:
<strong>Retrosheet's website doesn't have close/late splits yet, but they do have some others for Clark, linked off
<a href="http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Pclarj001.htm" target="_blank">http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/Pclarj001.htm</a>Certainly, his performance in RISP situations is, if anything, less than his overall average.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It actually looks like Clark was hitting better with RISP in many, maybe most, of those seasons. Regardless of what the final totals for Jack Clark are (I'm sure someone will add them up), wouldn't it be considered clutch to even hit your average in RISP situations? I mean, wouldn't players that were lacking in clutch ability generally do worse in situations where the opposing pitcher and fielders are bearing down on them, like a RISP situation? The idea that clutch hitters actually improve in the clutch may be flawed logic, and perhaps that is an area where the few existing studies have not delved into closely.
David Grabiner's clutch hitting studies appear to be by far the most quoted on the net, but they were actually usenet posts, and not very lengthy ones at that (just a few minutes of reading). He has 3 posts in particular that are related to the subject, and I've read them all many times over the years. Be careful about the source, some sites have slightly modified versions of his original usenet posts, Grabiner's homepage (http://www-math.bgsu.edu/~grabine/baseball.html) is probably the wise place to go. If I were really into sticking it to the "pro-clutch hitter" crowd (
) I think I'd leave Grabiner's posts out of it and concentrate on Bill James writing on the subject.
I have a few baseball analysis books that cover clutch ability, and a recent one ("Curve Ball" by Jim Albert and Jay Bennett) does not attempt to prove if it exists or not, it's chapter related to clutch performance concentrates on finding formula's for measuring clutch ability. Overall I still think I am somewhere in the middle on this issue, and I believe people make far too much of things that you could also attribute to luck or chance. Then again I'd rather have a "lucky" batter at the plate in the bottom of the 9th inning
.
[quote]Originally posted by Arbiter:
<strong>Again, I apologize for interjecting data into this thread.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Heh, now where is that darn "stir the pot" smiley when you need it!