Just a few days ago, I saw a post on Facebook. The post was about a player’s great performance in the postseason. While seeing the post, I was wondering which players are super dangerous in the postseason this decade.
To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the statcast website.
Randy Arozarena didn’t collect a hit in 5 games in the 2019 postseason. However, in the 2020 playoffs, he was one of the hottest hitters. He slashed .377/.442/.831 with 10 home runs and 14 RBI in 20 games. In particular, he won the 2020 ALCS MVP. In the 2021 postseason, he also hit well, with a .333/.474/.600 slash line. But, the Rays fell short in the ALDS. In this decade, Arozarena already crushed 11 home runs in the postseason.
Meanwhile, playing in the playoffs had been common for Kike Hernandez. He had postseason appearances from 2015 to 2021. In this decade, he already blasted 7 home runs in the postseason. He had 2 home runs in the 2020 postseason. In the 2021 playoffs, he slashed .408/.423/.837 with 5 home runs and 9 RBI in 11 games.
In addition, Michael Brantley was the final out of the 2019 World Series. Nonetheless, he actually collected 20 hits in 18 games in the 2019 postseason. Moreover, in the 2020 postseason, he had 18 hits in 13 games and in the 2021 playoffs, Brantley collected 22 hits in 16 games. He missed the 2022 postseason due to injury. But, a healthy Brantley is a consistent hitter in October.
Furthermore, Carlos Correa was quite busy in the off-season. Eventually, he returned to the Twins and agreed to a 6-year contract. Previously, he was an important hitter in the Astros lineup. In the 2020 playoffs, he batted .362/.455/.766 with 6 home runs and 17 RBI in 13 games for the Astros and in the 2021 postseason, he slashed .283/.368/.400 with 1 home run and 9 RBI in 16 games. He had 17 hits in each of these 2 postseasons.
Finally, Eddie Rosario didn’t collect a hit in the 2020 postseason. And, last postseason, he didn’t collect a hit, either. However, he hit very well in the 2021 playoffs, in particular, he slashed .560/.607/1.040 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI in the 2021 NLCS. Rosario was named the 2021 NLCS MVP. Moreover, Freddie Freeman went deep 8 times in the postseason this decade. He played 32 postseason games from 2020 to 2022 and collected 34 hits. Hitting is not easy. Hitting in the postseason is extremely hard. However, some batters are able to hit well under huge pressure in the postseason. We have seen some batters who have a batting average over .300 in the postseason this decade. Among these players, Randy Arozarena, Carlos Correa, Eddie Rosario and Freddie Freeman each had an xwOBA over .400, which truly shows that they did make solid contact in the postseason. It might be way too early to predict which team will clinch a spot in the postseason this year. But, a few months later, we might see some of these players crush baseballs in the postseason again?
No comments:
Post a Comment