Johnny Damon, Clutchness, and the Quest for 3000.

by Whelk on Aug 25, 2011 1:56 PM EDT

I'm loathe to accuse a well-respected professional athlete like Johnny Damon of putting his own outdated counting stats above the winning of the team, but in light of Damon's recent heroics, I thought it would be good to take a look at Damon's walk rate in relation to the importance of the situation. From Fangraphs:

	2011	Career
Low Leverage	6.6%	10.1%
Medium Leverage	5.6%	9.0%
High Leverage	9.8%	13.3%

He still shows the ability to work a walk in a high leverage situation (something he's always been good at). If you believe this story line, the fact that he has the skill to work a good PA and decides to do so when the games on the line is a bit annoying. I wouldn't have that much of a problem with Damon pursuing the quest in low leverage spots, but would it be too much to ask for him to consider medium leverage important also?

This post was written by a member of the DRaysBay community and does not necessarily express the views or opinions of DRaysBay staff.

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Please don't disparage one of our only two (Kotch) professional hitters, I think MLB players know much better what they're doing than some nerd on the internet with a spreadsheet.

by pudieron89 on Aug 25, 2011 8:00 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Maybe his reaction time has slowed down just a little bit.

I could see this being an issue that is way more viable then him just going up there hacking and trying to get 300 hits with one swing. It looks awfully easy and slow on TV but the decision to take a pitch or to swing is so small that i can’t even think of a point of reference to describe it.

by Peter Piontek on Aug 25, 2011 8:24 PM EDT reply actions