Worrisome Tigers' clutch stat overlooks arguably most important reality

The Tigers were the first team to 30 wins, first to 40, first to 50, and are neck-and-neck with the Dodgers to be the first to 60. They obviously aren't as packed with offensive superstars as the LA is, so it's been a mostly holistic effort for Detroit. They take extra bases more than half the time (the most in baseball) while the pitching staff takes care of business with one of the lowest collective ERAs in the game.

That isn't to say that there haven't been offensive standouts for the Tigers. Riley Greene, Spencer Torkelson, and Kerry Carpenter's bats have turned into the kind that Detroit has been waiting for since they all came up in 2022. Greene, who has always been the most promising of the three, has always been good, but this year he's turning into the kind of player the Tigers could make the face of their franchise for years to come.

However, both Carpenter and Greene surprisingly rank in the top 20 of one of the more unflattering stats in baseball: per FanGraphs, they're two of the least clutch hitters in baseball.

Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter have had great seasons for Tigers, but they're underperforming in clutch moments

FanGraphs' definition of their Clutch metric says that clutch is "'…how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment.' It also compares a player against himself, so a player who hits .300 in high leverage situations when he’s an overall .300 hitter is not considered clutch."

By this definition, the Tigers are lacking pretty heavily in clutch hitters all around, with Spencer Torkelson ranking the highest of any Detroit hitter at 0.26 (out of two) in FanGraphs' Clutch metric. Zach McKinstry is the second best, but he's sitting at -0.17.

But because the stat rates players against themselves, this isn't necessarily a huge red flag. Greene is hitting .295 with a .878 OPS overall through 80 games, and .216 with a .724 OPS in high leverage. That OPS is still decent in context, but it makes sense that Greene's Clutch stat would be lower compared to his usual average.

Carpenter is perhaps easier to criticize, as he's batting a pretty awful .194 with a .433 OPS in high leverage versus .250/.745 overall.

Still, there are guys in the lineup who can pick them up. Torkelson is batting .275 with a .900 OPS in high leverage, and even Javy Báez is .333/1.000 in those situations. Again, the Tigers are putting up a holistic effort here, which is all that matters.