How Mariners' J.P. Crawford deserves his flowers as an all-time great clutch hitter

Even allowing for subjectivity in discussing what makes a clutch baseball player, you'll still often hear people mention the likes of Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth from a hitting perspective. Well, we'd like to add Mariners shortstop J.P. Crawford to the equation.

We won't go as far as claiming Crawford is disliked by a significant portion of the Mariners fanbase, but he's received a lot of criticism during his time in Seattle, even though it hasn't always been deserved. However, even the most critical of M's fans must surely acknowledge the guy seems to do pretty well when faced with big moments in games.

The latest such moment came last Saturday versus the Astros, with the Mariners having clawed back from a five-run deficit and entering the bottom of the ninth tied at 7-7. Crawford came up to the plate with the bases loaded and one out, and proceeded to lace an opposite field single for the walk-off win:

J.P. Crawford leaving his mark in both the Mariners and Major League record books

This was the eighth time Crawford had come up to the plate in a a walk-off situation, which tied him with Mitch Haniger for the most in franchise history. However, what really elevates this is that it was the seventh time he came through with a walk-off hit, which tied Jim Presley for another Mariners team record.

There's been more explosive players than Crawford when the bases have been loaded, including two big names in former Mariner Alex Rodriguez (now there's someone who fans do dislike) and Lou Gehrig, who hit 25 and 22 grand slam homers respectively during their careers. However, there's more than one way to catch a fish.

The reality is the Astros were doomed when Crawford came up to hit with the bases loaded. Including Saturday, he has a 1.162 OPS in this scenario, which is ahead of both Rodriguez and Gehrig as the sixth-best of all time with at least 90 plate appearances, and also not that far behind "The Babe" at 1.183.

Part of what helps Crawford in such clutch situations is that he's remarkably calm, a combination of his years of experience and just the fact he's a level-headed personality in general. As per The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said: "[J.P.] has always been a low pulse, selective hitter in these situations. I think many guys get themselves out with aggression. J.P. is calm in the moment. He makes them come to him."

Just another day at the office for J.P. Crawford

This only becomes even clearer when you hear from the man himself, with Crawford sounding like he was describing an everyday occurrence when discussing his mindset ahead of Saturday's crucial at-bat. He said: "Just do your job, handle business and try not to think too much. Just go out, put a good swing on it and find a hole."

In case anyone needs more convincing that Crawford just seems to have the clutch gene full stop, he's tied-ninth all-time with a 146 wRC+ in high-leverage situations. We will add the qualifier that this only dates back to 2002 when Fangraphs started tracking this statistic, but it's still indicative of just what he's done over the years.

Overall, it's pretty cool that a player who has gotten so much grief during his time in Seattle and is generally just an okay hitter, also appears to have ice in his veins during pressure moments. There really is something to be said for being so clutch and it could provide an advantage to the Mariners come playoff time.

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