OK, my thoughts.
Basically every major league quality hitter is a "guess" hitter who hits mistake pitches well. Hank Aaron said that long ago and was right! If I am looking low and away and Kershaw busts me up and in, on the black, I am not hitting that pitch.
Weaker pitchers make more mistakes. That's why they are weaker. Not necessarily because they have weaker stuff. Methuselah Colon is still surviving exclusively with an Ephus-pitch "heater" simply because he makes few mistakes with it. What was it they said about brick and mortar businesses? The three most important factors were location, location and location. Good pitching advice, that! Biggio rarely got himself out against anybody. Against weak pitchers why wouldn't he rake?
Maybe there is a "Biggio-template" that destroys mistake-prone guys more that the next HoF'er? It is possible. But I am willing to bet that Frank Robinson had more success against Denny Lemaster than he did Bob Gibson.
Over the course of a career, the number of PA's a Frank Robinson would get vs. a Hoot Gibson would be rather small. There would an element of luck or chance that becomes more important. I am positive that some weak stick has beat up on Kershaw in their 16 matchups. But that doesn't mean he is a beast-slayer!
As to the Reggie thing: His career numbers were .262-.356-.490. In the post-season they were .278-.358.-527. That is sort of an improvement, but of the random noise variety. But if you take away just three homers, THOSE homers, and assume he simply had loud outs, then he is a post-season .267-.349-.484 hitter. Good, but not Homeric, pun intended. So Mr. October is Mr. October because we watched him play a lot of autumnal games AND on the biggest stage he got hold of three pitches on three swings. But in his other 315 career post-season PA's he was no more special than the April Reggie. Even with them, he barely was!
Timing means a lot in terms of perception, doesn't it.
Do I think some players handle pressure situations better than others? I do. Some players get that steely-eye gaze, the vapor-lock focus, the bigger the moment. Nicklaus, Jordan, Woods, Brady, undeniably. Somehow the world slows down for them. But baseball exposes or highlights that ability in a different manner than most sports. Jordan was going to get 28 shots in a Game Seven; Brady, 48 passes in a Super Bowl; Woods, 67 shots in the final round of a major. Batters may see only a few pitches on the plate in a Game Seven. And even on those they may guess wrong. When they do, they are much more dependent on what the pitcher does than a Woods or Brady ever is. Brady reads and recognizes AS the play unfolds. Jackson "guessed" right or creamed the hanging miss. Different stuff.
Enough for this morning, I suppose.
BTW, thanks to the magic of B-R, I can actually look up how a Robinson did vs. a Lemaster or Gibson.
.286-.434-.810-1.244 vs the former. .229-.316-.410-.726 vs the latter. Who would have thunk it, huh?