The RBI statistic has been devalued in recent years, but one player still finds it important.
Pete Alonso was asked after his New York Mets’ 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday whether he sees a lot of value in RBI. The question came after a game where Alonso knocked in the only run of the game. He hit an opposite field fly ball that dropped in for a single.
Alonso said RBIs were “for sure” valuable.
“It’s a run-scoring competition; it’s not a hit competition,” Alonso said. “People who don’t really think that, I think they don’t necessarily understand baseball.”
RBI is still an imperfect stat, because at times they can reflect the amount of chances a player has to knock in a run, rather than how good the player has been at knocking in the runs.
Alonso’s 97 RBI this season have him second in MLB behind only Aaron Judge.
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