Whenever the topic of great playoff hitters comes up, one of the first names thrown around by commentators is “The Captain”, Derek Jeter. He earned the moniker “Mr November” after his heroics in the 2001 World Series, half of which took place in November. While looking at some postseason statistics today, I noticed that Jeter has played in 152 postseason games, and has 704 postseason plate appearances, both of which are the most all-time. Then a light bulb went off over my head. That’s nearly a full season’s worth of data.
Jeter’s career postseason line in those 152 games and 704 plate appearances is .307/.374/.465 with 20 homers, 59 RBI, an 18/23 success rate on the basepaths, 64 walks, and 125 strikeouts.
Jeter’s 162 game average over his seventeen year career is .313/.383/.449 with 16 homers, 80 RBI, a 23/29 success rate on the bases, 66 walks, and 110 strikeouts.
So how does his postseason career compare to his regular season career? They are shockingly similar. His regular season OPS is .832, his postseason OPS is .839. His regular season walk rate is 8.9%, his postseason walk rate is 9.1%. His regular season strikeout rate is 14.8%, his postseason strikeout rate is 17.8%. His regular season ISO is .136, his postseason ISO is .158. His regular season stolen base percentage is 79.3%, his potseason stolen base percentage is 78.3%.
Once the calendar turns to October, Derek Jeter isn’t superman. He doesn’t become some sort of insanely great hitter. He’s pretty much the same hitter as he’s been over his entire career: a damn good one, and a Hall of Famer. The only real difference is that in the postseason, he’s got some more power and he strikes out more. And those aren’t even substantial changes, they’re just kind of there.
Jeter has had his great series, and he’s had his bad series. But for his overall playoff career, he’s the same guy as he’s been for his entire career. He’s just doing it against top notch competition night in and night out, and it’s a little colder outside. When you factor the increased level of competition into things, maybe his playoff performance is a little more impressive. But the point stands: he’s not Superman. He’s just Derek Jeter, but that’s better than a lot of guys getting playoff at bats.
