After Ian Desmond’s dramatic walk-off home run on Thursday, Bud Black told The Athletic’s Nick Groke that “we know eventually he [Desmond] will rise to the occasion because that’s what he’s done in the past.” This was in the context of Desmond’s playing time relative to Ryan McMahon. Black’s reasoning for sticking with Desmond in the midst of an objectively poor season, it seems, has been his late-inning performance.
But has Desmond been clutch overall? The walk-off is the walk-off, and it won the Rockies the game as a result, as was the case for the late-inning home run Desmond hit in Washington in April.