Stu’s occasional feature ventures into the world of Shane Mack. Stu, take it away:

They Were Who We Thought They Were…Or Were They?

(TWWWTTWOWT’s goal is to analyze past Minnesota sporting figures to see if they were, in fact, who we thought they were. They will be graded on a scale of Absolute Dennys, with a 1 being We Let ‘Em Off the Hook, and a 10 being Crown ‘Em.)

Today’s Subject: Shane Mack

Who We Think They Were: an on-base machine with some pop and defensive talent who had to split time with Randy Bush and Dan Gladden because Tom Kelly works in mysterious ways. Had an awful World Series in 1991. Bonus take from World of B proprietor and TWWWTTWOWT father figure Brandon: “Good power and good speed; like Torii before Torii was Torii. Not quite Kirby but had a few years of above average play.” It should be noted that Brandon said that without doing any research whatsoever, so he has the right to change his mind once he’s done so.

Were They Really: kinda sorta. Did you remember that Shane Mack wasn’t an everyday starter in 1991? As the indefatigable Aaron Gleeman documents, he only started 61 games in right field that year, plus 54 other games starting in place of Kirby Puckett or Dan Gladden. In TK’s defense, though, you have to find a place for a talent like Randy Bush. In the games Mack did play, he proved himself to be completely necessary, finishing the season with 18 home runs, a .310 average, and an OPS of .893.

(New Feature: there has been a spirited debate on this blog over the ability to measure “clutch” in a ballplayer. Some say it’s hogwash, while others say your stupid statistics prove only that you’re scared of girls and sunlight. In an effort to please neither party, I’m introducing the Clutchosity Index, in which I assign arbitrary ratings to better calibrate a player’s performance in pressure situations. These ratings will not be numeric, but rather evocative words and phrases. Shane Mack’s 1991 regular season Clutchosity Index value: Midnight.)

As for the Series, he was absolutely brutal in the first four games (0-for-15), was benched for Chili Davis in Game 5, then had himself a nice little turnaround in Game 6, going 2-for-4 with a run batted in. I’m not allowed to talk about Game 7 in front of RandBall any longer, so go to the internet if you want to read about it. His World Series CI value: Foxtrot.

He was a starter for the remainder of his Twins career, and sustained his excellence at the plate, placing among the AL’s offensive leaders in 1992 and the strike-shortened 1994 season. As noted at the Gleeman link above, his adjusted OPS+ as a Twin is 130. The only three Twins with a better number are Killebrew, Carew, and Oliva. So, yeah, he could hit the ball some.

As to fielding, his career range factor is 2.21, compared to the league average of 2.05 for that same time period. Unless movies and TV have lied to me, that means he was above average in the outfield. For those wondering, Puckett’s range factor was also better than bad.

The Grade: Shane Mack gets 9 Dennys. He was an excellent hitter. He was platooned. He could field his position. Although his World Series performance was initially as wretched as I recalled, he came through in Game 6. I guess other things happened that night that made me forget. (Proprietor note: that did not happen).

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