Clutch Is As Clutch Does: A Look at One One Of Baseball's Most Debated Terms

Clutch. Ah... the great sports term, clutch. Basically how well a player does when the pressure is on. Does he strike out with the bases loaded in a 1-run ball game, does he drive his team down the field on the final drive of the Super Bowl. Clutch. Some debate it's existence, to a certain extent I agree with those people. But a part of me still believe there is something to it. I'm going to focus on baseball for the purpose of this story because I am passionate about my thoughts on baseball's version of clutch.

Like many things in baseball, clutch is more debatable than with the other sports. Clutch in football isn't hard to figure out, you look at 4th quarter drives, you look at athletes like Joe Montana or Tom Brady and it becomes pretty obvious what makes a quarterback clutch. In basketball, it's a little harder no doubt, but still relatively simple, game winning shots, points scored in the fourth quarter, Michael Jordan, Robert Horry. While many times you'll see commercials featuring Jordan saying that he missed 40-50 game winning shots in his career, there is still not a whole lot of debate about it.

Then we get to glorious baseball. First off, I want to say I'm absolutely a stat-geek, sabermetrician, whatever the hell you want to call me. I like stats and I believe stats are a great way to evaluate baseball players. However, I do lean on the fence on some mom's basement living stat geek vs. old timey, tobacco chewing scout stuff. I believe stolen bases are sometimes important, I get kind of sick of home run or nothing hitters, I believe there's a time for sacrificing or bunting, etc.

One stat geek vs. scout debate I've always been on the fence about is clutch. Stat-heads tend to believe clutch doesn't exist, it's in our minds, no player in different than another. I don't buy into that. I really don't. There takes a certain amount of skill and mental strength to not be broken down by pressure.

I know from personal experience, in my years of playing basketball I've maybe hit one or two game winning shots, maybe more... not many though. I'm more inclined to pass the ball in a pressure situation. Baseball, I'm the same way, I would in no way relish the opportunity to have the bases loaded, full count, 4-1 Game 7 World Series. I'd likely pee my pants in such a situation and would just about guarantee a strike-out looking 99 out of 100 times.

So in my mind, clutch absolutely exists in baseball. There are players with a better ability to hit in pressure situations, players that are more mentally tough than others, not a single doubt in my mind that it exists.

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