Fifth hitter clutch

[elpasopesos]

Is it really important to have your ffith hitter hit well in the clutch?

[durantjerry]

No, based on what I have read about the amount of times clutch comes into play, I would say it is not "really important". I have had non-clutch or even poor clutch hitters pile up the RBI in that spot and it is more important what the over all hitting ability is. However, still better clutch than not clutch batting fifth.

[Jeepdriver]

Pretty sure the 7th hole is the best for clutch, but that's not to say other spots in the order aren't good spots. 6th and 5th are most likely 2nd and 3rd best and, believe it or not, the lead-off spot is good for clutch, too.

I'm going from memory on a good post by some people who had researched this a few years ago. So what I say above may not be 100% but I think it's a good model.

All that said, I think it's also important to not over-value clutch.

[KEVINEHLE]

I think it's more important to concentrate on the guys who have cards full of "chokes" than the guys who have clutch. The reason I say that is because there are some players where several singles can turn into Popouts on their cards. I try to keep these guys out of the 5th through 7th spots.

The guys who are clutch generally only have one or two horseshoes on their card. As the other guys say, I try to keep those guys in the 6th and 7th spots...but I don't think they are that important. The horseshoes for good clutch come up very infrequently.

Kev

[MtheB]

all I know is that if you even put a non-power, super clutch hitter in the 5th slot, say like Lajoie for instance in ATG, he will knock in 120+ runs.
its seems to work better for the high BA hitters that also have 8+ clutch hits, and guys like Lajoie have huge clutch.

[durantjerry]

[quote:2b82cb7cd5]all I know is that if you even put a non-power, super clutch hitter in the 5th slot, say like Lajoie for instance in ATG, he will knock in 120+ runs. [/quote:2b82cb7cd5]
Of course he probably hit .380 that year.

[geekor]

I forgot if it was luckyman or qksilver who did the research, but 5th and 7th were the spots that came up with the most clutch chances.

That being said, I had a 05 (or 06) team where I made sure to have everyone on the team with low dp's and positive clutch. The team that was not in the top 5 for BA, OBP or SLG% ended up 4th in runs scored. So I'm sure it makes a difference.