Add new comment

Dr D,  Another fine piece.  But let's not totally dismiss situational hitting.  For Example:
If a hitter is down in the count 0-1 or 1-2, usually his odds of getting on base safely is extremely low.  So if the batter has good bat control, he might as well put a defensive swing on the ball and punch it to the right side.
If we have our Wilson and Wilson combo at bat and on deck with a runner on second and the pitcher is an extreme groundball pitcher.  I want both those hitter punching the ball to the right side.  The reason I say this is that they are really only singles hitters and are very likely to just ground the ball to short or third which would prevent them from advancing the runner anyway.  Actually I'd probabaly bunt with Jack and let Josh punch the ball to the right side.  This is even more important late in the game during a tight ball game when a single run is very important.
I guess I look at it like this, you even mentioned it in your write-up, there are certain players you expect to drive the ball and deliver runs to the team and then there is the supporting staff that continues to have intense skirmishes with the pitcher and you hope they can get on so your team can scratch an additional run or two across each game.  A perfect example of this, although a different sport, was the Chicago Bulls when they had Jordan.  Everyone new that the offense went through Jordan and Pippen and the remainder of the team supported them.  But if you look at their stats and performance of Grant, Paxton, Cartright, Hodges, and Armstrong; you will see that they did alright too, but they primarily played their roles and the Bulls won championships.