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Leadoff hitters are obviously critical for any team in the MLB, but especially so during the postseason. When runs are so hard to produce in the playoffs, any baserunner is definitely pure gold. For the Oakland Athletics who had a 2-1 ALDS lead over the Detroit Tigers, Coco Crisp has definitely been Golden Crisp.
The As are kicking the Tigers’ behinds when it comes to leadoff hitting. Crisp may not be getting much attention from the media compared to others with the A’s, but he should be getting most of it. He is batting .333 with three singles, two doubles, one run scored, one stolen base, three walks and an on-base percentage of .462.
Go to the other lineup and see what Tigers leadoff hitter Austin Jackson is doing after three games: a .091 batting average, no singles, one double, one walk, one run scored and no stolen bases, plus a .167 on-base percentage. Why are the Athletics on their way to winning this series? Crisp vs. Jackson should just about wrap up the argument. He’s doing so much more at that very valuable part of the lineup than Jackson.
Crisp is a valuable player for a team like Oakland that doesn’t have a bevy of stars compared to the Tigers. His batting average of .261 during the regular season doesn’t rank him as an All-Star, but he does so much more considering his on-base percentage is .335, he scored 93 runs, which was 25 more than the previous season, and allowed 61 times.
He’ll be 34 in few weeks, and Crisp is a seasoned veteran who is doing all he can to get the A’s to the World Series. Crisp just needs to keep doing his thing, and the A’s will make it to the ALCS and perhaps the World Series.
John Raffel is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JohnCarlRaffel, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
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