ABSTRACT
In sports, there is a general interest in the ability of athletes to perform well in “clutch” or important situations. In a baseball game, the objective for a team is to score more runs than its opponent. There will be particular times during a game when a batter has good opportunities to produce runs, and it is very desirable for him to do well in these clutch situations. For example, consider a single, a baseball hit where the batter reaches first base safely. The value of a single, from the viewpoint of scoring runs, varies greatly depending on the runner’s situation. A single when the bases are loaded is much more valuable to the team than a single with the bases empty. A team would like to have players who are able to hit singles (or other base hits) in these important situations. The ability of a player to “hit in the pinch” has always been important as indicated by Dick Rudolph’s comment about batting averages in Lane (1925): “In my mind, there is nothing more deceptive. I would much rather have on my team a player with an average of 0.270 who was a great hitter when hits were needed than a 0.350 hitter who wasn’t much good in a pinch. It’s the hits in the pinch that count.” Although baseball players have different levels of performance in clutch situa-
tions, most researchers have found little evidence for players to have a higher level
Abbreviations for batting events in baseball.
