A couple of months ago, I listened to a podcast show. In the show, a guest indicated that he remembers well that a shortstop hit a walk-off single in the postseason. It was a great podcast show and after listening to the show, I was thinking about a question.
Hitting isn’t easy. It’s even harder to hit well in the playoffs. In October, which shortstops are the best on offense?
To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the great Fangraphs website.
Derek Jeter played 158 games in the postseason, collecting 200 hits. 200 hits are not only the most among shortstops but also the record of the most career hits in the postseason. In the short-term, it will be extremely difficult to see a player reach Jeter’s record. And, as we can see, no other shortstops have collected at least 100 hits in the playoffs. Carlos Correa now has 91 hits in the postseason. Furthermore, Corey Seager, who was named the 2023 World Series MVP, has 76 career hits in the postseason.
In addition, let’s take a look at home runs. Jeter had 20 postseason home runs in his career. Corey Seager already smashed 19 home runs over 78 postseason games. Furthermore, Carlos Correa blasted 18 postseason home runs thus far. However, no other shortstops have crushed at least 10 home runs in the postseason.
Thirdly, let’s look at the RBI. Carlos already played 85 games in the playoffs with 63 RBI. Jeter collected 61 RBI in the postseason. And, Seager now has 48 postseason RBI. Jhonny Peralta had 26 postseason RBI and Juan Uribe collected 25 RBI in the playoffs. Hence, there are the only 3 shortstops who collected at least 40 RBI in the playoffs.
Finally, let’s take a look at on-base percentage. Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. spent 21 seasons with the Orioles, playing 3001 games. He slashed .276/.340/.447 with 431 home runs and 1695 RBI. In the postseason, he batted .336/.411/.455 with 1 home run and 8 RBI over 28 games. Moreover, Nomar Garciaparra began his career in the Red Sox uniform. Later in his career, he used to play for the Cubs, the Dodgers and the A’s. He slashed .313/.361/.521 with 229 home runs and 936 RBI. In the playoffs, Garciaparra hit .321/.386/.589 with 7 home runs and 24 RBI over 32 games. Furthermore, Jeter’s on-base percentage in the postseason was .374. Additionally, Tony Fernandez has an OPS of .367 in the playoffs.
Without doubt, Hall of Famer Derek Jeter had done a great job in the postseason, and it would be difficult for any other MLB players to reach Jeter’s 200 postseason hits. However, this postseason, Corey Seager slashed .318/.451/.682 with 6 home runs and 12 RBI over 17 games. In particular, he hit .286/.375/.762 with 3 home runs and 6 RBI in the 2023 World Series. With great performance in the Fall Classic, he was named the World Series MVP. Seager already had 19 home runs in the postseason. If he stays healthy and the Rangers stay competitive, it will be possible to see Seager surpass Jeter in postseason home runs. Additionally, Carlos Correa has 18 home runs and 63 RBI in the postseason. He might surpass Jeter’s 20 postseason home runs if the Twins frequently play October baseball.
No comments:
Post a Comment