No metric, no pay stub, no agent, no arbitration hearing, no award, no algorithm defines the value of a ballplayer as honestly as October, when baseball becomes its transparent best. The cruelty of small sample size collides with the weight of meaning.
To understand this crucible is to understand what happened in the Twins clubhouse as they prepared to play Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Astros. In what was a veritable must-win game for Minnesota, Carlos Correa, he of the .230 batting average and 1.4 WAR in what was the worst regular season of his career, ran the hitters’ meeting as the Twins prepared for Houston starter Framber Valdez.
Having played seven seasons for Houston, Correa seemed the rightful one to chair the meeting. But in fact, this was nothing new. Minnesota’s analytics department will cook up its stew of numbers and trends, but the information is distilled and presented by coaches and players like Correa, not analysts.
