The value (and the art) of pinch hitting
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Oct 20, 2011 
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In last night’s World Series opener, the biggest hit was a pinch hit single by the Cardinals Allen Craig, the same guy who drove in two runs as a pinch hitter in the clinching game of the NLCS, the same guy who hit .318 as a pinch hitter in the regular season.
He’s the same guy who went 1-for-7 as a pinch hitter last season.
“I’ve felt I’ve done a lot better job this year coming off the bench,” Craig told the Post-Dispatch. “I’ve had a wide range of opportunities thrown at me.”
In the World Series, pinch hitting might be an underrated advantage for the National League. It’s a strategy not used very often in the American League, but used constantly in the National League. Craig had seven pinch hits this season. None of the Yankees had more than three.
No surprise, the Yankees most-often used pinch hitters this season were veterans who played largely platoon roles in the regular season.
Jorge Posada: 2-for-15 with five walks, four strikeouts, a double and two RBI
Andruw Jones: 2-for-12 with two walks, six strikeouts and an RBI
Eric Chavez: 3-for-11 with one walk, three strikeouts and two RBI
The Yankees three most-often-used pinch hitters combined to bat .184 with one extra-base hit and 13 strikeouts as pinch hitters. It’s a hard thing to get used to, which is why you so often hear regular position players complain about DHing by saying it’s like pinch hitting four or five times a game.
The rest of the Yankees pinch hit appearances this season:
Chris Dickerson: 1-for-4
Curtis Granderson: 1-for-4
Eduardo Nunez: 0-for-4
Russell Martin: 1-for-3
Robinson Cano: 0-for-2
Francisco Cervelli: 1-for-2
Austin Romine: 1-for-2
Nick Swisher: 1-for-1
Brett Gardner: 0-for-1
Greg Golson: 0-for-1
Jesus Montero: 0-for-1
Ramiro Pena: 0-for-1
Brandon Laird: 0-for-0*
Alex Rodriguez: 0-for-0*
Mark Teixeira: 0-for-0*
* Drew a walk in only pinch hit appearance
perhaps that is why Girardi gave his regulars the opportunity to come thru
late-in-his-career Lou Piniella was the only good, truly consistent pinch hitter they’ve had in 30+ years
Montero 1-1 pinch hitting in the postseason, 2-2 overall in ps.
Am I late to report this? Qaddafi’s killer wore a Yankee hat? Must have thought it was A-Rod
http://live.nydailynews.com/Ev.....ead_report
And Laptops weighs in on The Collapse
said Buchholz. “Best team in baseball probably in the last 10 years or whatever…”
http://www.boston.com/sports/b.....veryb.html
repost:
TS – LMAO!!!!!
It was quite a creative nickname!!! I think it was Kid who pitched the fit when we used it.
Life is good. Hope all is well with you too. Your kids must be grown and beautiful! Are you still doing your music thing?
I’m betting
oops
I’m betting the email addy I have for you is no longer a good one but I’m going to give it a try anyway!
Lots of good stuff this morning. Gotta say, whoever decorated AJ’s house has great taste. Was that last picture a corral? I wonder if he rides bulls or does other rodeo stuff.
Slow day on the second day of what promises to be a boring WS.
Found this at Extra Bases. Now this isn’t Pete, but it’s pretty funny how from the writers to the players there’s a huge sense of entitlement. It’s a GM, not a star player. Why can’t Selig step in tell the Sox to get real? And Buchholz’s comments are priceless. He did exactly what this year? And now he’s a spokesperson for the club?
Can’t imagine the Red Sox folding their tents and not coming out of it with the prospect or prospects they earmarked. The Cubs can’t possibly believe they can get Epstein without paying a significant price can they?
http://www.boston.com/sports/b.....veryb.html
Oops, only the last paragraph was from Extra Bases.
so let me see:
It was the weather
It was having to play double headers
It was the schedule
It was having to play the Sunday night espn games
It was all the hype
It was the manager
It was the GM
It was Crawford who we never wanted
sounds like too much whine instead of rally beer
http://www.boston.com/sports/b....._baseball/
NO beer for the Yankees. I like this.
Buchholz is right, the Sox were quite ‘whatever’
@Buster_ESPN: Re:Hoyer headed to CHC. When your owners willing to let you walk away from their top job for basically nothing, it’s a good time to leave.
And the whole beer thing, it was more of a rally beer.
*********************
“Russell Martin: 1-for-3″
Better as a PH than as a regular hitter.
Girardi put him in a position to fail in Game 5.
Buchholz was advised to “toe the line” by his fearless leader, Buckett.
Buchholz’ comments were refreshing. He was honest, but accountable. Didn’t throw anyone under the bus like other guys. I like it.
said Buchholz. “Best team in baseball probably in the last 10 years or whatever…’”
Clay Buccholz, Space Oddity
this is ground control to Major Tom, you really sound like an ass
and the papers want to know what drugs you take
Who is considered as a good pinch hitter? Anyone know who has the best average (with any significant sample size)?
hardwired-
Let’s see. If a self-proclaimed idiot Red Sox player speaks up at a rate of every 1.8 days, that should get us through the winter meetings?
I didn’t find Bucky’s comments to be honest or refreshing. He just reiterated the same story…we only had chicken 3 times, we only drank a rally beer…the cover up script was written and he followed it.
I wonder if they all met at Popeye’s to get their stories straight
Let’s just hope these Red Sox pitchers don’t find out about Stem Cell Beer.
Another reason (as if we needed one) that it is ridiculous for the 2 leagues to play with different rules.
The players are going to get it from fans on the road.
Josh “Chicken” Buckett
Hopefully the three fake umps will dress up as Col. Sanders.
Best pinch hitters since 1961. Very interesting list.
http://www.baseball-reference......hives/5536
I found laptops comments very douchebaggerific.
On that ‘best pinch hitters since ’61′ list – Terry Whitfield – I remember that name from the Yankee Dark Ages of the early ’70′s…
The Red Sox should make PSA’s about how to not handle being named the best team ever and then flaming out.
“If you are named the best team ever and fail to live up to expectations, its ok, don’t panic. Rule #1: Never ever agree that you were the best team ever. It will make you look dumb.”
Jerkface,
The best answer is “time will tell.”
tomingeorgia October 20th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Best pinch hitters since 1961. Very interesting list.
http://www.baseball-reference&.....hives/5536
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanx for the list Tommy. Prior to the list, one of the best I remember was Smokey Burgess.
That plump catcher could get his bat on a ball.
upstate kate October 20th, 2011 at 4:14 pm
I didn’t find Bucky’s comments to be honest or refreshing. He just reiterated the same story…we only had chicken 3 times, we only drank a rally beer…the cover up script was written and he followed it.
————————————————————————
A RS fan said they shouldn’t have any beers because they didn’t rally.
I think Pete still considers them the best team ever from May-August
Just had lunch & a few cold ones with a few friends one of which says that Moreno wants to model his organization much like what Cashman has done since taking control in the Bronx so there could be some vacancies in the Stadium front office…….The Angel purge in their front office was all set in motion after Texas came into town and blew the Halos out of the postseason picture….And the year Naps had didn’t help things as well…..Many guys around the league think Francona got a raw deal and is the scapegoat for the BoSox collapse….Lackey being portrayed as a good guy wouldn’t fly in the Angels clubhouse or with their organizational guys….The only guy who couldn’t be showed the door faster than him was K-Rod who was detested by everyone……..Jerkface, the general take is your guy Darvish is the real thing but is he a 100 million dollar guy ???? He’s said to be real mature for a 25 year old and has real nasty stuff ……Yanks will be a player for him regardless of what is being said in the media……They have done their homework this time around……….GB, pool service was in blue stripes today…..
108,
Glad to be of service. Burgess could ph, no doubt.
I think the person to blame for this fiasco in Boston is Epstein. He wasn’t clear when he said that boston needed to draft more pitchers, and Lester, Burkett and Lackey misunderstood him to say they needed more pitchers of draft.
Thanks, Tom.
Matt Stairs has been the best in recent memory.
Jerry Sr. had a decent PH batting avg.
I guess it’s not all that easy to do.
Pat M,
Thanks….don’t like the sound of that……hope they don’t steal D.O.
m,
My pleasure. GB7, what those guys needed to do is skip the fried chicken and get pizza and a clubhouse dog named Killer. Then they’d be unstoppable.
Pat M.,
You continue to be cruel to us. Got any pix for us to leer at?
Any word on where Kenny Forsch will end up?
Hope all is going well with you and the family in your little part of the world
Tom,
“Killer” could have been the watch dog and kept out the undesirables, like Youkilis, Pedroia and the media. Of course, he’d have to be in on the sharing of the pizza and beer.
Carig tweeting that Friedman’s up for the Angels GM job.
Mantle was not an especially good pinch hitter in his day. Hit about ,230 in about 125 at bats with 6-7 homers. The only thing he didn’t do well on a ball field.
GB…..Ken is playing golf in Monterrey…..Pebble Beach most likely, but he’ll stay in the organization if he wants…..His call
SI_JonHeyman
andrew friedman met w/ angels bigs moreno & carpino. @DRaysBay 1st said. if they’re meeting w/ friedman, it’ll be up to him
Another interesting pinch-hitting list. Ed Karnepool .470 something in 1974, and Gates Brown every year.
Pat M.
Here’s a sad story about Jerry West. Apparently he has battled depression his whole life. Tough read.
http://www.grantland.com/story.....jerry-west
GB7,
Killer would just be one of the guys, sure here share the pizza and beer, but is his credit card any good?
Sorry, Here’s the link: http://www.baseball-almanac.co.....ords.shtml
Interesting…..Friedman to the Angels.
blake,
What’s the Angels farm look like? Can Friedman pull of the same stuff out there?
Vic Davallio (sp) was a great one too as was Manny Motta.
Funny Gates Brown story, from Wiki:
On August 7, 1968, Brown made history. He wasn’t in the starting lineup, so he decided to grab two hot dogs from the clubhouse. He was ordered by manager Mayo Smith to pinch hit. He stuffed the hot dogs in his jersey to hide them from his manager.
“I always wanted to get a hit every time I went to the plate. But this was one time I didn’t want to get a hit. I’ll be damned if I didn’t smack one in the gap and I had to slide into second—head first, no less. I was safe with a double. But when I stood up, I had mustard and ketchup and smashed hot dogs and buns all over me.
“The fielders took one look at me, turned their backs and damned near busted a gut laughing at me. My teammates in the dugout went crazy.” After fining Brown $100, Smith said, “What the hell were you doing eating on the bench in the first place?” Brown: “I decided to tell him the truth. I said, ‘I was hungry. Besides, where else can you eat a hot dog and have the best seat in the house’”[1]
From 1971 to 1973 Brown hit 33 home runs with 110 RBI in 571 at bats, including a .338 average in 1971 (66 for 195). He retired at the end of the 1975 season.
The Rangers are being very short and snippy with the media since last nights game. Wilson, Kinsler, and Washington with very condescending remarks.
Good luck trying to get away with that in NY CJ.
perhaps the red sox should get CJ…they wouldn’t have to worry about him drinking beer
So, then the Rays would be looking for a new GM too?
I don’t know the front office “players” without a scorecard, truth be told.
Unknown -
Why? did they expect to win in a sweep? Or did they not like the questions they were asked? Why be snippy when a few nights ago you were telling the press that the chicken strut was the spirit within you (or whatever the heck Washington said)??
Tom,
“Killer” doesn’t have a dime to his name. He spends his time sponging off of me. He’s a lousy watchdog and is probably misnamed. The only way he could kill anybody is by licking them to death.
Tom,
I don’t think they have that pipeline of pitching currently that Tampa does but obviously they have a lot more resources and coukd sink more money into the draft and free agency. They do have maybe the best prospect in baseball …..even though he was in the bigs some this year (mike trout)
GB7,
Sounds like my three-legged cat, Tripod. Sleeps all day, and if not fed on schedule, has been known to leave a mouse in my shoe.
blake,
As well as Friedman and his scouts have drafted over the years with very high draft choices, maybe they can use Angel resources to their advantage in the lower rungs.
?
All this clubhouse beer chuggin explains why sox players like youk always walk around with that “beer face” look.
# Villa Nova-Ya October 20th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
Unknown -
Why? did they expect to win in a sweep? Or did they not like the questions they were asked? Why be snippy when a few nights ago you were telling the press that the chicken strut was the spirit within you (or whatever the heck Washington said)??
—
Yeah no kidding. Washington can strut when it is going good, but if he makes decisions tonight again on who he uses to Pinch Hit like he did last night, well then he won’t be struting at all and the Cards will be taking a “Happy Flight” to Arlington.
When asked why he used German over Torrealba Wash says, “Can you guarantee me that if I used Torrealba he would have done anything different?” Washington said. “I used the guy that I thought could get me a base hit.”
That accompanied with Wilson explaining to a media member that holding out 4 fingers results in an IBB, when questioned about allowing so many walks, is pretty funny to me.
Big game tonight. A Ranger loss and things are going to get really dicey.