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Originally posted by: Five-ofan
Hitting "in the clutch" is very important but it doesnt make up for the other overall difference in their hitting. Arod has better triple crown numbers and better sabermetric numbers. Hitting in the clutch is based on luck. It has been proven that over time "clutch hitting" either regresses to or catches up to your regular numbers depending on where your clutch hitting stats are originally. Ie Derek Jeter. He used to be captain clutch but in the last couple of years he has regressed back to his regular self in clutch situations. Ortiz has a worse BA and OBP in close and late game situations so its not like he just destroys arod in clutch stats either. Arod has more game winning or tieing home runs and Rbis. You could use the they can come early in the game but then again so do alot of Ortiz's risp and runners on stats. It is my opinion that Arod has had a better season offensively, but my opinion has a much stronger base than yours. Baseball is a game of numbers and AROD has better numbers. He has been the better hitter. However he has a history of getting screwed out of MVPs so I wouldnt be overly shocked to see him lose it.
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Hitting in the clutch isn't based on luck. Hitting with runners in scoring position isn't based on luck. Not remotely...not at any level. Yes, over a small sample, it could be, but this is over an entire season...especially when those trends repeatedly come up with certain hitters throughout their career.
Here's the bottom line. Arod had 186 at bats with RISP this year with 77 RBI. Ortiz had 162 at bats with RISP with 92 RBI. So, in 24 less at bats, Ortiz had 15 more RBI. ARod had more prime opportunities to drive in runs this year than Ortiz, but Ortiz made much more of the opportunities. What does this almost assuredly mean? More of ARod's hits came in less meaningful situations. Plus, when the RBI opportunities were there, ARod didn't capitalize nearly as often. To me, this negates the minimal advantage that ARod had in HR's and negates the 20 point advantage or so that he had in BA and OBP. Ortiz was so much better with RISP on fewer opportunities than ARod that he does easily make up for wherever he lacks in other areas.
Hey, give me the guy that's going to hit .350-.360 with RISP compared to the guy that's going to hit .390 especially when they have similar power numbers.
With that being said, because ARod is solid in the field and Ortiz played alot of DH, I'd still give ARod the MVP.
And hey, you can value certain statistics anyway you please. I'd also be willing to bet that ARod was the beneficiary of coming up with more runners on base than Ortiz.