Didn't The Book say that clutch hitters may exist, but the sample sizes are so small that it's impossible to determine who is clutch and what's just random variance.
Fangraphs chimes in in the article, he mentions Dempster has been throwing his slider more. iirc, Riggins wanted Garza to throw his off speed pitches more. Maybe he did the same with Dempster.
Yeah, somebody mentioned that and I couldn't find any evidence of it. I mentioned it once, but I was being sarcastic. Don't know if that's what you were referring to or not.
Alternative: Soto can hit, but is only allowed to hit out of the 8 spot in the lineup. dude, he's just more relaxed batting 9 not having to worry about being a run producer.