In sports, offense (US) or offence (Canadian), also known as attack, is the action of attacking or engaging an opposing team with the objective of scoring points or goals. The term may refer to the tactics involved in offense, or a sub-team whose primary responsibility is offense.
In baseball, batting is the act of facing the opposing pitcher and trying to produce offense for one's team. A batter or hitter is a person whose turn it is to face the pitcher. The three main goals of batters are to become a baserunner, drive runners home, or advance runners along the bases for others to drive home, but the techniques and strategies they use to do so vary. Hitting uses a motion that is virtually unique to baseball, one that is rarely used in other sports. Hitting is unique because unlike most sports movements in the vertical plane of movement hitting involves rotating in the horizontal plane.
In general, batters try to get hits. However, their primary objective is to avoid making an out, and helping their team to score runs. There are several ways they can help their team score runs. They may draw a walk if they receive and do not swing the bat at four pitches located outside the strike zone. In cases when there is a runner on third and fewer than two outs, they can attempt to hit a sacrifice fly to drive the runner in by allowing the runner on third to tag up and score. When there are fewer than two outs and runners on base, they can try to sacrifice bunt to advance the runner(s) or, with a runner on first or with runners on first and third, they can try a hit and run play, also designed to advance the runner(s). They might even be hit by a pitch, reach on an error or—if first is empty or there are two outs—on a dropped third strike.
The defense attempts to get the batter out. The pitcher's main role in this is to throw the ball in such a way that the batter either strikes out or cannot hit it cleanly so that the defense can get him or her out.
A clutch hitter is a baseball player with a knack for coming up with the "big" hit. The big hit is typically a game-deciding hit, sometimes a home run, often coming with two outs, although it can be any hit or play with a significant impact late in a game. However, a clutch hit could come as early as the first inning. Being known as a clutch hitter is a position of high honor and responsibility, as the clutch hitter is recognized as the "go-to guy" for the team, and his exploits in pressure situations are celebrated by both fans and players alike.
Most studies on the matter involved comparing performance in the "clutch" category of statistics (production with runners in scoring position, performance late in close games, etc.) between seasons; if clutch hitting were an actual skill, it would follow that the same players would do well in the clutch statistics year in and year out (the correlation coefficient between players' performances over multiple seasons would be high). Cramer's study was the first of its kind, and it found that clutch hitting numbers between seasons for the same player varied wildly; in fact, the variance was the kind one would expect if the numbers had been selected randomly. Since Cramer published his results, many others have tried to find some evidence that clutch hitting is a skill, but almost every study has confirmed Cramer's initial findings: that "clutch hitting," in terms of certain players being able to "rise to the occasion" under pressure, is an illusion. Despite the evidence, though, most people in baseball steadfastly cling to the idea of the clutch hitter.
The problem with clutch hitting is that some people interpret it as always getting that big hit in a critical situation, while the reality is that it is unreasonable to think a player can get a hit each time out. To many, being "clutch" is being able to handle the pressure and getting that game tying/go ahead/ or winning hit. No one remembers a poor batting average in a series where a player hits a game-winning home run.
The fact that a player shows improved statistics in "clutch" situations is also not proof that clutch hitting exists, because random statistical variations can produce such occurrences. For example, using the binomial probability distribution, one can calculate that there is about a 4.8% chance that a .300 hitter will bat .500 or better in 20 at-bats, based merely on random chance. This is analogous to the fact that there is always some nonzero probability that a fair coin will produce a surprising amount of consecutive flips, e.g. there is a chance that one will get 20 straight flips of "tails", without attributing any "clutch" characteristics to the coin. Given the great number of players who have played the game, players who have average career statistics but seemingly exceptional statistics in certain situations (ex. the playoffs or with the bases loaded) are expected without providing proof that "clutch hitting" skills exist.
In addition, the cause of "clutch" situations must be considered. For example, if a player hits better with the bases loaded, it may be in part because the bases are only loaded because the other team's pitcher is not pitching well at that time, thus giving the batter a better-than-average chance for a hit in the first place. Furthermore, a pitcher may pitch differently with runners on (from "the stretch" rather than a full wind-up pitching motion), resulting in a strategic advantage for a batter.
This is not to say that it is impossible for a player's mental state to have some impact, either positively or negatively, on their performance - ex. confidence leading to "clutch hits" or a lack of confidence leading to "choking". However, there is little-to-no statistical evidence that shows this to be common, favoring the idea that any such impact is frequently overstated and most "clutch hits" are simply cases where success occurred at fortunate moments, and players perceived as "clutch" are simply players who have been lucky enough to get an above-average number of these hits.
In baseball, a contact hitter is a hitter who does not strike out often. Thus, they are usually able to use their bats to make contact with the ball (hence the name contact hitter) ball to put it in play, and then run fast to reach base. As a result of their focus on putting the ball in play, they usually have fewer home runs than power hitters.
Power hitter is a term used in baseball for a skilled player that has a higher than average ability in terms of his batting, featuring a combination of dexterity and personal strength that likely leads to a high number of home-runs as well as doubles and triples.
In terms of detailed analysis, looking at a player's ability as a power hitter often involves using statistics such as someone's 'slugging percentage' (a function that's calculated by evaluating someone's number of moments at bat in relation to the nature of their hits and strikes). 'Isolated Power' (ISO), a measure showing the number of extra bases earned per time at bat that's calculated by subtracting someone's batting average from his slugging percentage, is another statistic used.
The concept generally is analogous to that of a power pitcher, a player who relies on the velocity of his pitches (perhaps at the expense of accuracy) and a high record of strikeout associated with them (statistics such as strikeouts per nine innings pitched are common measures).
In baseball, a switch-hitter is a player who bats both right-handed and left-handed, usually right-handed against left-handed pitchers and left-handed against right-handed pitchers.
Usually, right-handed batters hit better against left-handed pitchers and vice versa. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher, making them harder to hit with the barrel (or "sweet spot") of the bat. Also, the pitcher's release is further from the batter's center of vision.
In switch-pitcher Pat Venditte's words,
"If I'm pitching right-handed and they're hitting right-handed, it's tougher for them to see. And then, your breaking pitches are going away from their barrel rather than into their barrel."
Even so, many switch-hitters do better from one side of the plate than the other. Numerous switch-hitters have achieved a higher batting average on one side, yet have more power from the other. For instance, New York Yankees great Mickey Mantle always considered himself a better right-handed hitter, but hit more home runs left-handed. However, many of Mantle's left-handed home runs were struck at Yankee Stadium, a park notorious for being very friendly to left-handed power hitters due to the short right field porch, and Mantle batted left-handed much more often than right-handed, simply because there have always been more right-handed than left-handed pitchers. Mantle's longest home run, a 565-foot clout in 1953 at Washington's Griffith Stadium, came batting right-handed.
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This article uses material from the Wikipedia articles "Baseball", "Offense (sports)", "Clutch hitter", "Contact hitter", "Power hitter", "Switch hitter", "Batting (baseball)", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.
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