Figured instead of a reactionary roast-fest of Cora not batting Moreland in the 9th, it may be interesting to explore the merits of pinch hitting.
Baseball reference has few basic stats on team pinch hitting ,so for simplicity just using batting average here. Over the past 5 seasons the Red Sox have not been good as a pinch hitting team - just 81/296 which is a .232 batting average. I'm sure that is also the case with other AL teams whose bench isn't used to being one and done.
Most of these at bats are high leverage and often against good relievers and the best match up a team can muster. More often than not, there isn't going to be a huge difference in the quality of the hitter.
Is there perhaps something to the fact that bringing in a cold batter should only be done in the perfect circumstance rather than going strictly by the book?
Baseball reference has few basic stats on team pinch hitting ,so for simplicity just using batting average here. Over the past 5 seasons the Red Sox have not been good as a pinch hitting team - just 81/296 which is a .232 batting average. I'm sure that is also the case with other AL teams whose bench isn't used to being one and done.
Most of these at bats are high leverage and often against good relievers and the best match up a team can muster. More often than not, there isn't going to be a huge difference in the quality of the hitter.
Is there perhaps something to the fact that bringing in a cold batter should only be done in the perfect circumstance rather than going strictly by the book?
Last edited: