Who to Play in Right, a comparison

May 8, 2025, 1:37 PM

baseball stats.png(87.6 K)

There was a lot of discussion last week about who should become the primary RF for the rest of the season, so I wanted to do a comparison between the 3 options we have (barring Bakich deciding to go with someone else altogether).

The three options that have had any playing time this year, obviously, are Tristan Bissetta, Jack Crighton, and Tryston McCladdie. At this point, all three have had roughly 100 PA's each, and equivalent number of appearances in games. There are three very different profiles and playstyles, but looking at statistics, there seems to be a clear frontrunner for the daily starting job for the rest of the season.
Looking at the comparison, I think you have to run Tryston McCladdie out for the rest of the season unless he completely falls off a cliff. Crighton is close in average (about 1 less hit a weekend), but with much less productive hits this season. Crighton has 3 extra base hits over 110 PA’s, versus McCladdie’s 10 over the same number of opportunities. Of every player with at least 2 PA/game, McCladdie ranks as the 5th most effective hitter, behind Cannarella, Listi, Priest, and Purify. The one knock on his game so far has been his baserunning, with some critical blunders on the basepaths, but he creates about 0.44 runs per game, which ranks 5th amongst starters. He’s an effective runner overall, regardless of some of the blunders he’s made so far.

Bissetta is an interesting hitter to say the least. He has the 4th highest BB% and the 2nd highest K% (behind Paino). I think his issue is that he doesn't make any contact and that hinders his game. I think I saw somewhere that he tried to retool his swing to lift the ball more, but this year it seems to have backfired. He strikes out 8% more than 2024 and has seen his average drop by almost 75 points since last season. If you look his stats last year, he is almost identical to Tryston McCladdie this year. He made a lot of good contact, doesn't strike out a ton, and walks at a respectable rate. I think he has a spot on this team going forward, he just needs to work on making contact, rather than hitting homers. He's naturally strong, and if he can get back to 2024 Bissetta, he could project as a 0.300/0.400/0.500 hitter who will hit about 10-15 HRs per year (with regular at bats).

As for fielding it looks like Crighton is the most comfortable in RF. I’d chalk this up to Crighton having all last year to play outfield and get used to playing OF at the college level. But, if I were Erik Bakich, I’d have McCladdie start the rest of the way, and bring Crighton in as a late-inning defensive substitution if the situation called for it. This team right now needs an offensive spark, and I don't think Crighton gives that as much as McCladdie does. I don’t know if Purify will be available this weekend (or the rest of the regular season for that matter), but if Purify stays out of the lineup, the decision is much simpler with McCladdie at 2B and Crighton in RF. Starting Dillard over McCladdie against FSU was head-scratching, but he did come through with a clutch double that led to the win in game 2. I do think EB should have given more time to freshman and bench guys during midweek games, but hindsight is 20/20, and these three are the best available options.

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

Re: Who to Play in Right, a comparison

Yeah that was a typo, definitely not hitting 0.387 lol. I don't have the LHP/RHP splits in front of me, but even if he hits better against lefties, McCladdie hits for more power and is much more dangerous on the base paths. Crighton did play well against FSU, hitting 0.667 with a couple walks and an RBI, so he's definitely earned a nod this week (honestly letting Purify heal up until the ACC tournament might not be the worst idea).

My only issue is that of everyone who has played a considerable amount this year, he's been by far the least effective hitter, with the lowest OPS and the least number of RBIs (even less than Bissetta, at 13 versus 16, although RBIs aren't necessarily a good measure of hitting). Maybe that's due to his spot in the lineup and guys not getting on ahead of him, but when 88% of your hits are singles, you need to have a better average than 0.264.

Who to Play in Right, a comparison

Re: Who to Play in Right, a comparison

Re: Who to Play in Right, a comparison

Re: Who to Play in Right, a comparison

Re: Who to Play in Right, a comparison

Re: Who to Play in Right, a comparison

Re: Who to Play in Right, a comparison

TigerBoard POTD