Maybe I'm nitpicking, like adambr2 said these words are very subjective, but to me there's a difference between elite and special. Braun is still a special hitter imo. His approach throughout his career has changed very little (minus when he couldn't pull the ball due to his thumb injury). He can still hit it to all fields with authority. I still believe he can be a .300+ hitter with 25+ hrs. And to your other point about being clutch, that's the weird thing about him this year. He hasn't been. He seems to be pressing more with RISP (he holds a .200 AVG w/RISP). I would think that stat is just an aberration and will not be the norm for the next couple of seasons.