One At Bat .....

DirtyHarry

Bottom of 9th. Tie score. Two outs, man on third. Who do you want at the plate?

Gemmy10

Chico Escuela, of course!

Jersey

Suzuki

Gemmy10

Joe DiMaggio

Jersey

<<Joe DiMaggio>>

I don't think that he's jolted in a while.

kuhlmann

right now Cliff Floyd! man he is on fire!! but i know he will break a freaking nail here soon and sit out 30 days.

Axtell

<< <i>Bottom of 9th. Tie score. Two outs, man on third. Who do you want at the plate? >>



Current player or all time?

Current, Ichiro, because I know he's going to make contact.

All-time, Boggs.

KOBEcollector

Mario Mendoza

CardsFan

Is this assuming he's going to get pitched to? If so I'll take Pujols.

Stingray

Bobby Higginson!

So he can watch a 3rd called strike and we Tiger fans can go home disappointed again.

Stingray

GoBravesGo

<< <i>Is this assuming he's going to get pitched to? If so I'll take Pujols. >>

ditto, but sadly, they would likely just walk him or most power hitters, and take their chances on the next batter.

coachh

Pujols all the way.

Skinpinch

Being that it is two outs and a man on third, the player with the highest chance of getting a hit(or extending the inning) is the man you want since all you need is a single, therefore you want guys like Cobb, Boggs, T. Williams. This is all relatively speaking of course to their league. Ichiro's .360 is not as valuable as Boggs's .360 considering their eras (basically the double expansion coinciding with a drop in available men artificially increasing Ichiro's average over Boggs's).

Ideally you would want Ted Williams as he would have one of the best chances of getting a hit, or at least drawing a walk to extend the inning. He did not make a lot of outs. Cobb would be a nice choice, as would Boggs. Ichiro would be a nice choice, but a cut below those guys as he makes more outs and has the greatest chance among those guys of ending the game with a loss.

I tend to dislike these questions as these situations just do not happen to a player all that often, and they don't tell anything of a players ability. You get some lifetime .260 hitter who has ten at bats in these situations and he is five for ten. Then you have Ted Williams with ten at bats in these situations and he is 2 for 10. Most average fans would consider Ted Williams to be less desirable in this situation because of those measly ten at bats, and would conclude he isn't clutch or something. People ALWAYS forget sample size! That is another topic of course.

JUST GIVE ME TED WILLIAMS THE WHOLE GAME, AND WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THOSE SITUATIONS AS OFTEN BECAUSE WE WOULD HAVE WON THE GAME ALREADY! EVERYBODY ELSE COULD HAVE PUJOLS OR ICHIRO BECAUSE THEY WOULD BE HAVING A FAR LESSER PLAYER THAN MINE AND THEREFORE BE LOSING MORE OFTEN.

DeutscherGeist

Skinpinch,

you give some of the most intelligent perspectives when it comes to evaluating baseball. Sample size is a big issue. Ruben Sierra could just as well be the man to save the day in that situation while Boggs could potentially fly out.

One factor that was not mentioned here is the Batting Average when men are on base. I would pick Jeter for this situation because he has such a high OBP and does better in pressure situations. I know Jeter strikes out more than Boggs, but Jeter strikes out much less when the stakes are high. This is a pressure situation, so he would most likely make contact here or extend the inning. I have nothing against Boggs, but I am just making my choice Jeter since no one mentioned him.

Mattingly and Molitor are also guys that are very dangerous with men in scoring position. Frank Thomas is a real menace too because not only does he hardly strike out, he can draw a lot of walks. Plus he has a lot of power. That's a rare combination of having so much power, yet hardly striking out.