It just dawned on me this morning, while wondering how one of my teams seems to win 1-run games and pull off some very timely hitting,  that I've never seen Batting Avg with Runners in Scoring Position on any HBD stat pages.  

Wouldn't this be a more interesting/useful stat than some of the other "extended" stats...like Runs Created?

Thoughts?

"Wouldn't this be a more interesting/useful stat than some of the other "extended" stats...like Runs Created?"

No. I can't think of much that would be less indicative of a player's performance than a stat showing how many of a player's hits — by pure chance — came when guys happened to be at second and third. Most experts seem to think there is no relationship to situation and performance for batters (clutch hitting) in real life, and whatever role that plays in MLB would have zero effect in a simulation game. Cyber-players are not going to be more motivated or more nervous with a chance to drive in some runs.

It would be somewhat interesting if being able to "step up" (or alternatively, fall apart) in clutch situations were a part of the game (whether it exists in real life or not).  Maybe use the player's makeup rating.  It could affect both hitters and pitchers.

Posted by joshkvt on 9/2/2010 5:18:00 PM (view original):
"Wouldn't this be a more interesting/useful stat than some of the other "extended" stats...like Runs Created?"

No. I can't think of much that would be less indicative of a player's performance than a stat showing how many of a player's hits — by pure chance — came when guys happened to be at second and third. Most experts seem to think there is no relationship to situation and performance for batters (clutch hitting) in real life, and whatever role that plays in MLB would have zero effect in a simulation game. Cyber-players are not going to be more motivated or more nervous with a chance to drive in some runs.

+1

Good hitters are good hitters.  There's a reason that the all-time best "clutch" hitters are also HOFers.

They were pretty ******* good the rest of the time, too.

"Mr. Clutch" Pat Tabler and the people at Donruss baseball cards would disgree with you.

Yeah, I'm not talking about evaluating a player based on RC or any other ridiculous extended stat.  I'm pretty sure most users evaluate who should play based on ratings, not statistics anyway.

I'm asking if it would be more interesting to see.  RISP is a more interesting stat and easier to understand.  I believe it would be more INTERESTING to see.

I agree, it would be a stat I'd look at for the sake of interest.  I think that RC is a useful stat tho.

I find it entertaining that you consider Runs Created to be a 'ridiculous extended stat'

I look at RC and RC27 all the time.

You also think Kolb/Stafford are viable fantasy QB options.

I think I changed my mind about that real fast.

They will be the death of me.  Shoulda grabbed Leinart in the 18th.

After going with Kolb/Stafford, I don't think anyone would have been shocked.

You should see the 'tard league I joined to make myself feel better, some jag drafted Rodgers, Favre, Ryan, and Vince Young at QB.  Needless to say, the rest of his team is horrendous.

for most of the season lastings milledge was in the top 5 in majors for BA  with runners in scoring percentage ( not sure how the stats are now ), since he otherwise sucks, i think the stat is all luck.

Rc27 is in my opinion the most important offensive stat in baseball. It values a player based on how he hits and puts no value on runs and RBI that come as a result of his placement in the lineup or his teammates performance. I have my own slowpitch softball team in real life. We are pretty good for a bunch of wannabe MLB hacks. We have fun and play a competitive schedule. 150 games, 10 months per year with some minor travel. This is the stat we use. We only look at OBP and Rc27. (We use Rc21 because of the 7 inning games)

Here is why Rc27 is important. Slugging percentage is not an accurate measure of the value of each hit. In other words, a homerun is not 4 times as valuable as a single, and this has been proven by statistical analysis by guys much smarter than me, like Bill James. Now the system we use was adapted for slow pitch softball but basically I value a single at 0.47 runs and a homerun at 1.40 runs. I tested on several tournaments and it would always be +/- 5% of the runs we actually scored. In other words we might score 79 runs and the formula predicted we would score 81 (for example).

It makes it much easier to see what lineup changes need to be made. Because a guy hitting 9th in baseball doesn't get as many chances to drive in runs as a guy batting 4th. A guy hitting 7th won't get as many chances to score runs as a guy hitting leadoff. Few would disagree with that. So that's why I look at RC stats instead of RBI and runs scored. RC will give a true value to a good hitter that plays for a bad offensive team. Runs and RBI never will.

RISP may be a more popular and more easily understood stat, but I don't want in included at the expense of removing RC stats.