No one is more clutch than SF Giants 1B LaMonte Wade Jr.
When LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a walk-off single on Wednesday to beat the Cleveland Guardians 5-4, it was no biggie. After all, it had been just two days since his latest and greatest feat of late-inning heroics, a sacrifice fly that won another game in extras. Since bursting onto the scene with the winning hit in the Mike Tauchman game, "Late Night" LaMonte has come through in the clutch time and time again.
Wade's prowess at the plate in these kinds of high-leverage situations has been otherworldly in the samples he's put up so far in his career. At just 29 years old, there's still plenty of opportunity to add to the late-inning magic he's given San Francisco over the past four years. Before he goes out and sweeps the Rockies all by himself, though, let's take a dive into some of the stats that highlight his clutch gene and compare them to some of the greats.
2021
1. 1.040 OPS with RISP, 35 RBI in 69 AB. Player comp: Jimmie Foxx, 1935
Yep, we're going pre-modern era with this first player comp. In 1935, Philadelphia Athletics' first baseman Jimmie Foxx went to his third of nine consecutive All-Star Games, in part because he hit .362 with RISP, putting up a 1.039 OPS in those situations. He also drove in 71 in 141 at-bats, right in line with Wade's 2021. That kind of consistency earned him 3 MVPs back in the 30's. Dude was the Paul Goldschmidt of his time!
2. 2 outs & RISP: 1.373 OPS, 17 RBI in 27 AB. Player comp: Javier Báez, 2019
In the midst of his second All-Star berth, Báez lit up the league in the clutches of moments. Wade, though, has him beat in average, slugging, and RBI/AB, averaging an RBI 62% of the time he stepped up to the plate in those situations, compared to Báez' 61%. For a summer, Wade hit like an $100,000,000 man.
3. High Leverage: 1.099 OPS, 25 RBI in 53 AB. Player comp: Hunter Pence, 2010
Before his pivotal role on multiple World Series teams, before he broke onto the national stage with Philadelphia, Pence was a breakout prospect for one of the worst teams in baseball - the NL Central Astros. In 2010, he went ballistic in high leverage situations - the most impactful 20% of at-bats - hitting .409 and slugging .667, right on par with Wade's 2021.
4. 9th inning: 1.409 OPS, 12 RBI in 23 AB. Player comp: Lenny Dykstra, 1988
Wade's .565 batting average in the 9th inning is the 10th-highest single-season mark of all time (min. 20 AB). Not many hitters have every come close to his efficiency at the end of games. One who came close? Mets outfielder Lenny Dykstra, who hit .571 in the ninth just two years after the Miracle Mets' championship run. Dykstra, though, only drove in 3 in his 21 at-bats, compared to Wade's 12.
2022
1. High Leverage: 13 RBIs in 49 AB. Player comp: Álex Rodríguez, 2007
While "Late Night" struggled in 2022, mostly due to a series of lingering injuries, he still had some of that high-octane results with his bat. In mid and low-leverage situations that year, he had 13 RBIs in 168 at-bats. In high-leverage situations, he had 13 RBIs... in 49 at-bats. That was how he provided the magic; his OPS spiked from just .665 on the year to .856 in those high-leverage situations. Over a full season, that would make Wade as productive as A-Rod's 2007 MVP season, where the Yankees slugger produced an RBI less than a quarter of a percent more often.
2023
1. Tie Game: .925 OPS. Player comp: Bob Brenly (1987)
A year after the "You Gotta Like These Kids" campaign re-injected hope into the San Francisco fanbase, Bob Brenly anchored the Giants with a .925 OPS in tie games, a stat line not dissimilar to Buster Posey's .928 OPS in tie games in 2014. At their best (and even a tier below), you rarely felt a lack of confidence when they came to the plate in big moments, and Wade provides that in turn.
2. 9th inning: .950 OPS. Player comp: Gary Sheffield (2005)
As Sheffield wrapped up his final All-Star campaign in 2005, he could look back on the year proudly, hitting nearly .350 with a .948 OPS in the ninth inning as an ever-reliable anchor in the Yankees' lineup. So too has Wade been a stabilizing force, even through the lean summer months that saw the Giants endure an offensive famine. While the pure stats this year haven't been historical, the clearly above-average numbers Wade has put up in tie games and the 9th inning have helped him make history as one of the Giants' clutchest players.
Career
1. Extra innings: .438 batting average. Player comp: Kelby Tomlinson
At the end of the day, we're still just slicing and dicing numbers. That point should be driven home by the fact that Wade is wedged almost halfway between #ForeverGiants Kelby "Specs" Tomlinson and Héctor Sánchez, two of the 50 greatest extra-innings contact hitters in MLB history. But those at-bats still count, and they tell us that when it comes to putting the ball in play in extras, Wade is certainly one of the best.
2. 2 outs and RISP: 32 RBI in 90 AB. Player comp: Pete Rose
A slightly more flattering comparison here, because LaMonte Wade doesn't just put the ball in play. He drives 'em in. And the rate at which he does so matches Pete Rose, over his entire career, to an error margin of a twentieth of a percent. Whenever the game reaches the most critical stage, the beast inside LaMonte emerges, and he turns into a WerePete. A WereRose? We'll workshop the name.
3. High Leverage: 55 RBI in 169 AB. Player comp: Hank Aaron
Last but not least, LaMonte Wade Jr. drives in runs like Hank Aaron in high-leverage situations. That right there is really this whole exercise in a nutshell. Wade isn't Hank Aaron, of course. Nobody is, save for the stray Bonds or Mays or maybe Ohtani. But for all the thirst in San Francisco for the next new star, whenever an important situation comes up, a little bit of the game's biggest star shines on in Wade. That's why fans perk up a bit when he steps up to the plate. Maybe check and see where Emily Wade is sitting, just in case. Because for those 169 at-bats in his young career? He's been electric.
