Clutch Rating

I was wondering just how important clutch is in constructing a team. Is it something that should be seriously considered?

Dale

I asked the same question a couple of months ago, & got few replies, ( I was asking about Venable in CF) the one I did get said they wouldn't put too much stock in clutch ratings except maybe for 5th in the lineup. He had Venable on a team and he only got 2 clutch hits all year.

I'm still not too sure about it myself, but if I were going to pay a lot of attention to it--I would probably have a running team in a pitchers park (stealing is not always part of a running team) and I would have several players with good clutch instead of just the 5 hole.

That said, the 2012 season has a lot of bad clutch players, so if you do put a good clutch team together I would like to see a post about that team after about 1/4 of the season played.

Here is a team I put together with everyone except Ellis a good clutch hitter..Gonzo and Crisp are +12. I don't know how it will pan out but I wanted to give it a whirl...The season starts tonight so we will see....


http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/1110136

Should be a fun experiment. Basically I don't put very much value on clutch hitting, as it very rarely comes up. I think it's like having a good Hit and Run rating. Maybe useful if you have two players who are just about dead even and you don't know which to pick up, maybe pick the one with better clutch.

One place where it does appear to make a major difference is in HAL giving out the intentional walk. Look in every single league and the leaders in getting a free pass are pretty much always the clutch hitters. So, many times having a few guys with a lot of positive clutch doesn't really get you of those elusive clutch hits, but it will get them on base a bit more often for the non-clutch guys to try to drive in.

However, as I've said before many times, it's the one super-advance rule I really dislike. I wish it were optional in the online game. The rules was created for realistic season replays where SOM is trying to duplicate statistical accuracy, not for the imaginary teams we play here. SOM "clutch" rating has almost nothing to do with what most people think of as "clutch hitting" and it's confusing for beginners and disliked for most veterans of strat.

Anyone use Dirks yet? I'm more afraid of his bad clutch hitting than his injury rating

Dirks. 400 ab's for an ongoing team and 0-4 in clutch situation. Not enough to worry about.

I think I end up with 14-25 clutch opportunities the entire season for my teams, spread among 162 games, I don't worry too much about it.

And yes IBB go by clutch, which is why I ALWAYS have my team setting for IBB set to very conservative.

I think I end up with 14-25 clutch opportunities the entire season for my teams, spread among 162 games, I don't worry too much about it.

Geekor has played a lot more than I have but my two teams have been at 14 and 22 chances for the year. One of my friends who joined was worried about Beltre due to all the clutch outs but Beltre wound up 0-3 or 0-4 for the year.

This is a rule I really wish they would do away with. It was never meant to be used except in an "As Played" replay setting. I believe the on-line veterans that it does not come up much, though I noticed it has come up often on one of my non on-line teams. I have also noticed there are many many more positive clutch guys in the 1986 player set compared with the 2012 player set.

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/team/811678


ATG team
I used + clutch guys who were also 1's. 15 clutch opportunities resulted in hits.