Pinch hitting was almost unknown in the early days of the game. Rosters were limited, and every player was expected to take his regular turn at bat. Substitutes were usually only allowed for injuries. Pinch hitters started to be used more often early in the 20th Century, with the appearance of specialized relief pitchers and the expansion of rosters. In general, batting averages for pinch hitters are low, as they often tend to face the opposition's best pitchers in tense situations, without the benefit of warming up.
However, a number of players have become known over the years for their ability as pinch hitters. These are often players whose other skills - especially on defense - are limited. A number of pitchers have also been used as pinch hitters; this tactic had almost disappeared by the 's, but is enjoying a limited revival of late, because major league benches have shrunk, with most managers having 12 or 13 pitchers on their man roster , leaving few options for pinch hitting.
This is a list of players with the most pinch-hits in Major League Baseball history. Names which appear in bold are active players. Includes games through October 10, Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? Are you a Stathead, too? Subscribe to our Free Newsletter. When do you have to run in baseball? Previous Next. Baseball Pinch Hitter Rules. Table of Contents. What Exactly is a Pinch Hitter? Pinch Hitting Statistics Most teams have four or five players on a bench to use as pinch hitters, and the typical abbreviation used for pinch hitter is "PH.
Role On The Field Oftentimes, the most common thing pinch hitters will do is simply play the defensive position of the baseball player they replaced. Skills And Usage Pinch hitters are typically inserted into the game to replace weaker batters such as pitchers at home plate.
The designated hitter rule was adopted by the AL in Prior to , pitchers were required to bat in all NL games and Interleague games in which the NL team was the designated home team. The DH was not used in the World Series from , then was used by both World Series teams during even-numbered years from ' The practice of playing each game by the rules of the designated home team's league began in the World Series. To better quantify the effect on offenses, I will switch from traditional batting stats to wOBA , a statistic that translates directly to run production a change of 0.
The statistic is scaled such that players with average hitting profiles will have wOBA values comparable to their OBPs. Expanding the sample to include , the numbers remain virtually the same:. Likewise, managers will tend to bring reserves into blowouts to get them playing time, thus intentionally bringing in an inferior player. The goal of the model is to be able to determine the odds of any particular outcome in a matchup between any batter and pitcher, in any setting.
Running some sanity checks on the model, all appears to be well. So, what about pinch hitters? Indeed, an average hitter being used as a starter will have a wOBA of. For those who have read The Book , this is a familiar result.
This eliminates the cases in which managers knowingly bring inferior players into blowouts. There were 21, such pinch hit chances in those six years, of which 12, involved a pitcher being replaced. Surely, even with a point wOBA loss, a pinch hitter should be better than a pitcher, right?
Had we omitted the pinch hit penalty, we would have expected the hitter to be points better than the pitcher. OK, we can breathe a sigh of relief. Pinch hitting for a pitcher is generally a very safe move. Also, a small fraction of pinch hitters had the platoon disadvantage, while the position player being replaced would have had a platoon advantage.
0コメント