2 Out RBI in 2008
Posted by Raphy on March 9, 2009
In 2008 25 players had more RBI than Carlos Lee's 100. Yet, when it came to driving in runners with 2 outs, there was no one better, as Lee tied for the major league lead with 56. Similarly, Mike Jacobs only had 93 RBI for the season, but 45 of them came with 2 outs.
Here are the 2008 major league leaders in 2 out RBI (season totals are in parentheses).
| Ryan Howard | 56 (146) |
| Carlos Lee | 56 (100) |
| Josh Hamilton | 53 (130) |
| David Wright | 51 (124) |
| Justin Morneau | 49 (129) |
| Miguel Cabrera | 48 (127) |
| Manny Ramirez | 46 (121) |
| Mike Jacobs | 45 ( 93) |
March 10th, 2009 at 1:12 am
B-b-but I thought David Wright had been sharing A-Rod's Clutch Dog pills!
I've never sure what to make of stats like this, where having a lot of one good thing just means that there's less of some other good thing. I mean, 2-out RBIs are great, but maybe it means Lee was getting fewer 0- and 1-out RBIs than he should. Those runs count just as much (maybe they're even better, since your teammates have more chances to drive you in too).
March 10th, 2009 at 8:29 am
I agree with Johnny; what I'd rather see is the percentage of RBIs in RBI opportunities with 0, 1, and 2 outs. Perhaps a large percentage of 2-out RBIs simply means that Carlos - who batted 4th or 5th in the order - simply came up more often with 2 outs. The 'Stros were not an on-base machine, and Lee often had guys like Bourn (.288 OBP), Pence (.318), Erstad (.309), and Tejada (.314) batting in front of him. At least for that first PA of the game, I'd bet Lee came up often with 2 outs on the board.
March 10th, 2009 at 8:59 am
I always wondered about "clutch" players; guys like Reggie Jackson, et. al. People say, "he hit the best pitchers in the toughest situations in the post season." To me, that proves that he CAN hit even the greatest pitchers. So why didn't he hit, say, .450 against mediocre pitchers during the rest of the season? To me, that's not the sign of a great player, but rather a lazy or selfish player, who only puts forth his best effort when there's the greatest opportunity for personal glory. A May loss (due to a lack of a Reggie homer) hurts your team just as much as a September loss, but there are fewer eyes on you at the time. I'd rather have an A-Rod, whose post season numbers eflect his regular season numbers - slightly worse, but that's because he is facing better pitchers overall in the post season. That, to me, shows that he's giving it his best all the time, not just slacking off until "the big show". Sure, it's great to have a Reggie "step it up a notch" in the post season; but woouldn't it be even greater if he put up those kind of number for the WHOLE season?
March 10th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Living in the Philadelphia area (Delaware... which sports-wise is the Philly area) I would have thought I would have heard more about Ryan Howard's positives last year. I was surprised to see what his final numbers came up as when looking into it. All I remember was how terrible he started and that his strikeouts were absurdly high.
On a complete side note, I noticed Howard had 36+ k's in a month 4 times last year.... Tony Gwynn did that in a season only once!!
But back to the real point... I feel like if you had asked me what Howard's numbers ended up as last year I don't think I would have been anywhere close... based on the media's reporting of it around here.