Carig: Why can’t Yankees hit with runners in scoring position?

The Random House that Cerf, Klopfer and Carig built.

Nobody knows for sure why that is. As a wise man likes to say, “You can’t predict baseball, Suzyn.”

Of course, there is another explanation. Perhaps, there isn’t much to be made about how the Yankees perform on Thursdays, or Wednesdays, or twice on Sunday. Maybe, hitting on Thursdays really doesn’t tell us much about what kind of team the Yankees are on offense. And maybe the Yankees average on Thursdays isn’t the result of a skill at all, but a strange number created by the random fluctuations in the game.

Kind of like hitting with runners in scoring position, no?

As you know, these Yankees aren’t very good at it right now—.240, 10th in the American League. Even when they have some good games, they certainly haven’t been consistent. But kind of like the Thursday example above—yes, it’s an extreme example—it’s just as extreme to take the team’s batting average with runners in scoring position as an indicator of future success or failure.

Hitting on Thursdays is clearly not a special skill. And, mostly, I’m not so sure that hitting with runners in scoring position is that much different. To be clear, I personally believe there is an element of skill involved. Some guys simply may be better at it than others. Why? I couldn’t say for sure.