Baseball award season makes people feel all kinds of ways. Whether it is the inevitable snub for Manager of the Year, or a Gold Glove going to a strong offensive and popular player with mediocre defense, there is plenty of ire to go around. People take issue with the process and with the results. Unless, of course, it goes the way of their favorite teams; in that case, the entire thing is clearly on the up and up and well-deserved. Either way, the entire process provides intrigue, entertainment, and Twitter fodder galore.
And who doesn’t love a little intrigue, entertainment, and Twitter fodder?
So to capitalize on the energy surrounding the off-season debates over who should be the winner of what award, and only tangentially inspired by the real awards, we present to you the first of a series of We Love Baseball awards for the 2021 season.
Next up is: Manager of the Fear. This award goes to the players who had ‘ice in their veins’ this season and came up with big-time, clutch hits.
Honorable Mentions: First of all, thank you to everyone that picked Atlanta players. There were so many choices from the World Series champ, so to make it fair to fans of the 29 other teams, I only included 1 player from Atlanta in the nominees. However, here are some of the other options from Atlanta that I considered:
- Freddie Freeman
- Tyler Matzek (It was a really tough call on this one)
- Jorge Soler
- Joc Pederson
And now, for the real Honorable Mentions: Shohei Ohtani, Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., Willy Adames, Kyle Schwarber
The Nominees
1. Eddie Rosario, OF | Atlanta
The postseason hero himself.
THE BRAVES GOT EDDIE ROSARIO FOR A DUGOUT MASCOT!!
pic.twitter.com/eIsE10HiXf— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) October 18, 2021
He flashed the leather, too!
EDDIE ROSARIO ARE YOU SERIOUS?! pic.twitter.com/GD1LO2pNU4
— MLB (@MLB) October 31, 2021
We could go on and on with Rosario clips from the postseason, which indicates just how good Rosario was for Atlanta. Ironically, Rosario was traded from Cleveland to Atlanta for another notably clutch postseason player, Pablo Sandoval, at the trade deadline.
Say it with us…
🗣️ EDDIE! EDDIE! EDDIE!@EddieRosario09 | #BattleATL pic.twitter.com/IeZkuePbss
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) October 24, 2021
2. LaMonte Wade Jr., OF| San Francisco Giants
You had to know Late Night LaMonte was going to be on this list. He’s flashed the leather, he’s hit some dingers; he’s basically done it all.
WHAT A CATCH BY LAMONTE WADE JR pic.twitter.com/l3828UsIn1
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) October 13, 2021
LAMONTE WADE JR. 😨
Gone.
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/CkJ7cYoxZ7
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) August 21, 2021
Wade was another player who I greatly enjoyed watching grow into his own this year. Wade didn’t play every day (he didn’t even have enough at-bats to qualify), but he still made a significant impact on the Giants’ season, leading Major League Baseball in the “Clutch” statistic on both Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference.
LaMonte Wade walks it off for the Giants (-245 ML) to get their 105th win ✅pic.twitter.com/paqxZPaUFh
— Action Network (@ActionNetworkHQ) October 1, 2021
3. Jared Walsh, 1B | Los Angeles Angels
Watch this with the sound on, please.
Jared Walsh. BALLGAME. pic.twitter.com/OucVqmWkm2
— MLB (@MLB) April 5, 2021
Iconic call, iconic home run.
Also, teeing off on Aroldis Chapman always gives you a couple of extra points in the clutch category.
Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothing Jared Walsh can't do pic.twitter.com/h8oM51T1rt— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) July 1, 2021
What a joy it was to watch Walsh finally come into his own as the primary first baseman on this roster. It probably wasn’t as much of a joy for Mariners fans when Walsh nearly crushed their postseason hopes here:
Jared Walsh adds a little *spice* pic.twitter.com/HmUNiLqgFV
— Los Angeles Angels (@Angels) October 3, 2021
You may also remember this elite Jared Walsh defensive play, at a position he doesn’t normally play:
Jared Walsh has never played left field in the majors.
He makes this catch to save a couple runs in the #AllStarGame. 😱 pic.twitter.com/XcqXcIDPcy
— MLB (@MLB) July 14, 2021
4. Kyle Seager, 3B | Seattle Mariners
Even if he’s no longer a Mariner after this offseason, Kyle Seager has given Seattle fans a lifetime of great moments, and many of them came this season, in the midst of a playoff hunt.
2 HR for Kyle Seager and 8 unanswered runs from the @Mariners. 😳 pic.twitter.com/aOzlzSw7ys
— MLB (@MLB) April 11, 2021
2nd in Baseball-Reference’s Clutch standard. 4th in Fangraphs’ Clutch standard.
Kyle Seager's 34th of the year is a go-ahead blast! pic.twitter.com/ArMmSPup2Y
— MLB (@MLB) September 8, 2021
Kyle Seager's glove just took over the 7th inning: pic.twitter.com/72mcN3uP8n
— Daniel Kramer (@DKramer_) October 3, 2021
I can’t wait to see where he goes next!
5. Chris Taylor, UTIL | Los Angeles Dodgers
Speaking of players who went nuclear this postseason, may I introduce you to Mr. Taylor?
RT if you think Chris Taylor is a must re-sign player for the Dodgers.
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) November 16, 2021
Yes, the guy who hit 3 home runs in a single game against Atlanta.
CT3 homer night. pic.twitter.com/y6qLJMSumT
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 22, 2021
6. Josh Hader, RP | Milwaukee Brewers
The list wouldn’t be complete without a clutch reliever or two. Hader, as reliever of the year, was put into plenty of high-leverage situations for the Brewers. He did pretty well in those:
CORBIN BURNES AND JOSH HADER TOSS A COMBINED NO-HITTER 👏 @BRWalkoff
(via @BallySportWI)pic.twitter.com/8iNF2E6Kxy
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 12, 2021
Disgusting sliders and absolute heat on his fastball. Yuck.
Josh Hader save-sealing slider pic.twitter.com/N3HWMDKoEQ
— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) April 28, 2021
Only one blown save all year! His one blown save was thanks to a HR by Jose Peraza, but still, only one blown save!
No, I’m not putting Freddie Freeman’s postseason HR off of Hader on this list.
7. Zack Wheeler, SP | Philadelphia Phillies
Zack Wheeler did everything he could to Ring the Bell for the Phillies this season, pitching a zillion innings, striking out a zillion dudes, and knocking in a zillion runs:
Imagine pitching to Zack Wheeler … Couldn't be us. pic.twitter.com/wysuE0NdPG
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) April 3, 2021
Best hitting pitcher in the NL!
Zack Wheeler is doing it all. pic.twitter.com/vg1X0sSgPS
— MLB (@MLB) August 8, 2021
Starting pitchers aren’t always referred to as “clutch” as often as position players (by the nature of their position), but when you’re as dominant as Wheeler was this season, you earn that label. He was invaluable to the Phillies this season and valuable by basically any WAR metric you find.
Zack Wheeler is so locked in he… forgot how many outs there were
10 K’s, 1 hit, 17 straight batters retired pic.twitter.com/G0Bsrwtpme
— Very Baseball Moments (@verymlb) April 3, 2021
The Process
Picking just one player from this list was incredibly difficult. How does one define “clutch” anymore? How much value should we place in postseason results? In Clutch metrics? In flashiness? I’m not sure I like using the Win Probability metrics available on baseball sites as a be-all, end-all way to determine the “clutch-ness” of a particular player because I’m not sure they capture the ‘essence’ of a clutch play particularly well. Wade and Seager grade out well on the Clutch metrics, but other players, like Ohtani or Guerrero, who are arguably very clutch players, don’t grade out quite so well. But, in a high-leverage situation, I would much rather have someone like Guerrero at the plate than Kyle Seager against any given pitcher. So, the Clutch stats are just one piece of the pie for my process.
There are some players on this list who have undeniably come up big for their teams, but walk-offs are essentially the same. For me, the things that change how ‘clutch’ a play can be are:
- The “Flashiness” of the play
- The quality of the opposing player (the pitcher for a batter, or the batter for a pitcher)
- The overall ‘vibes’ of the moment.
These factors are mostly attendant circumstances, but it’s my way of distinguishing between the various 2-run walk-off shots and seeing-eye singles that score the game-winner.
My colleague, Matt Goodwin, suggested picking a player based on the process of elimination. So, I’m going to separate the players out into categories for convenience:
Thanks, But No Thanks | These guys had some big plays. They just don’t have the chops (by my standard) to be considered in the upper echelon of Clutch-ness. The players who didn’t make the cut are:
- Josh Hader – I found myself getting more disappointed by the Freeman postseason HR the more I thought about Hader’s season. He’s an incredible ballplayer and definitely deserved the Reliever of the Year award, but I just can’t get past the big postseason dinger.
- Kyle Seager – I love the Captain, but his walk-offs didn’t quite get up to snuff. He suffers from a little bit of non-flashiness.
- LaMonte Wade, Jr. – He’s got the stuff, he just misses the flash and the drama of the clutch play.
- Zack Wheeler – A true workhorse, a dominant player for three-quarters of the season, and a heck of a hitter. It just doesn’t feel like enough to me.
Upper Crust | These are the favorites. I’ve narrowed it down to two postseason heroes and one guy who knocked in a ton of game-winning runs with flair, except during the regular season. In 3rd place, we have Chris Taylor, the utility player with a ton of postseason clutch-ness. That NL Wild Card HR was huge for his resume. If Rosario wasn’t on this list, Taylor would be in the Top-2 conversation. Ultimately, though, I had to narrow it down to Walsh and Rosario.
The PL+ Choice
Before crowning the winner, it’s time to reveal the insider pick from PitcherList’s Discord. The PL staff and PL+ members contributed to a poll wherein they chose which players should win the WLB awards, including Manager of the Fear. The choice of the masses goes to…
World Series Champs Appreciation Post ft. Eddie Rosario pic.twitter.com/hTHmzbaJVx
— Chase From Braves Country (@cm_wde) November 19, 2021
That’s right, it’s Atlanta postseason hero Eddie Rosario. I have no qualms with this pick, as Rosario was a monster at the plate against the Dodgers and the Astros.
The Winner Is…
"He went to Jared!"
Of course Sunday's wild White Sox-@Angels game ended with a walk-off homer.pic.twitter.com/FysyhEri60
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) April 5, 2021
I could hear that bat crack over and over and never get tired of it.
Look how far Walsh has come since 2019:
ITS TIME FOR THE COW MILKING CHAMPION! pic.twitter.com/2tdb13SDyh
— 𝙅𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙣 𝙃. 𝘖'𝘏𝘖𝘗𝘐𝘜𝘔 (@jthamano) April 14, 2021
From cow-milking champion to walk-off hero. Congratulations!
Photo by Ariel Basaar/Unsplash | Adapted by Ethan Kaplan (DJFreddie10 on Twitter and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)