Is Inge a Rally Killer?

My recent post on RBI percentage got a bit of attention from blogs and message boards, more than I usually get anyway. I should have known that any statistic which made Inge look good offensively would create a stir. Many were surprised that Inge finished third on the team and above league average by knocking in 18.3% of runners on base in his at bats last year. My initial reaction was that it was a fluke but I wanted to look back at other years to see if that was the case.

The Table below compares Brandon's RBI% to team and league averages from 2004-2008. This is the version which excludes plate appearances resulting in a walk, hit batsman or sacrifice bunt. As you can see, the Tigers third baseman finished comfortably better than league average every year from 2004-2008. I wouldn't go so far as to call him a clutch hitter but this puts a dent in the idea that he has been a rally killer over the past few years. This result is not something I expected so it probably warrants a closer look in the future.

As for the Tigers, they were well above average in 2004 , 2006 and 2007 but below average in 2005 and exactly average in 2008. It's not a big surprise that they were unproductive with runners on base in those two disappointing seasons.

Table 1 - Inge's RBI% in 2004-2008 (PA with BB, HBP, SAC excluded)

Year	Inge	Tigers	Lge Avg.
2004	19.4	17.3	16.2
2005	16.9	15.3	16.0
2006	16.8	16.9	16.2
2007	17.0	18.0	16.3
2008	18.3	16.3	16.0

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