A clean inning is a technical term used in Baseball to describe how the runners on base came with the assistance of the reliever so that they can clear the innings. By doing this, the pitcher might have fewer struggles when entering the game. During Baseball postseasons, it was the National League which is using this strategy often, where they have to select a reliever to help the base runners clean the innings. When the pitchers came in the game, their concerns would often start at the innings where he could position himself successfully.
Does Clean Inning Matter in Baseball?
While most teams are mostly following this tactic to successfully win the game, some methods were slightly nonsense and unethical. For example, they were using starting runners to clean an inning during pre-games. Their main purpose is to be well-prepared for the game. After that, the starter pitch with the runners on base should note that they won't make a 100% effort in throwing the ball for the first time.
Examples of Clean Inning
Since the 2015 ALDS, there was a significant record of 151 appearances made by Max Scherzer against Chi Chi Gonzalez. There were a total of allowed .311 wOBA out of an allowed average of .299 wOBA. With this record, Clayton Kershaw has made 4 out of 141 appearances and doesn't appear to be significant in the game. For these plate appearances to be fully advantageous in the game, they needed to have a sample of about 2500 appearances to qualify to a single standard deviation, which means being to pull out a meaningful strikeout rate.
How are Clean Innings Recorded?
The data presented for the clean innings were mostly inconclusive because even if the start runners should strike out at least 25.8% of the batters faced, while at least 26.1% on the subsequent batter. Some of the starters also have a higher walk rate upon entering the game, but this should not conclude the outcome of the game. Even if they get an additional 5% level, still it wasn't enough to clear the inning and win the game. For some reason, another factor to get this successfully is to be in a controlled environment, where they can execute clearing the innings.
