RIP with RISP

This question was posed to me prior to the Wild Things' Sunday against Florence: What do you consider a good batting average with runners in scoring position?

I assume it was in reference to my note in Sunday's paper that Washington was 4-for-22 with runners in scoring position during the first three games of the last homestand (three of those hits, however, were in the 8th or 9th innings and either tied the score or gave the Wild Things the lead). It didn't take much thought to answer this one. A good batting average with runners in scoring position should be the same as a good batting average, regardless of the situation. In this case, a good team batting average in the Frontier League this year is .275. Thus, my answer was .275.

The Wild Things are hitting well below .275 with runners in scoring position and the nagging inconsistency in this area was displayed again Friday night at Windy City. The Wild Things did not have a hit with runners in scoring position and generated their run in a 2-1 loss with a pair of groundouts that moved Chris Sidick from second base to third and across home plate.

In the 7th inning, Washington had the bases loaded with one out but failed to score as a line drive turned into an inning-ending double play. In the ninth, the Wild Things had runners on second and third with no outs, and the bases loaded with one out, and again failed to score. After putting runners on 2nd and 3rd in the ninth, Washington failed to hit a ball out of the infield.

Is there statistical proof that Washington is not a good hitting team with runners in scoring position? My curiosity led me to check the Frontier League statistics (through Friday, July 27):

Average with runners in scoring position
----------------------------------
Team Avg.
Kalamazoo .296
River City .289
Windy City .289
Traverse City .287
Southern Illinois .281
Florence .280
Rockford .280
Evansville .264
Gateway .254
Washington .254
Chillicothe .223
Slippery Rock .207

Runners in scoring position w/ 2 outs
--------------------------------
Team Avg.
River City .283
Southern Illinois .276
Windy City .274
Kalamazoo .274
Rockford .262
Traverse City .256
Evansville .240
Florence .239
Washington .236
Slippery Rock .219
Gateway .215
Chillicothe .201

The things that stand out in these numbers:

* Somehow Gateway has put together the second-best record in the league with a sub-par offense with RISP.

* If River City had some pitching it could be very dangerous. River City's pitchers are allowing opponents to bat a league-high .291 with RISP.

* Washington has the third-best record in the league, so how has it overcome below-average hitting with RISP? The answer is by having the best pitching in these situations. Opponents bat only .247 against Washington with RISP (lowest average in the league) and .193 with RISP and two outs, which is by far the lowest average in the league.