How important are stats?

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Jun 8, 2016
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Our own coach was surprised when I provided this break down and it was an eye opening moment for him. So the simple eye test is not always accurate and when you slice and dice the data you can find some really hidden gems.

Can I tell you our top 4 hitters on the team without looking at stats? Absolutely! I thought they were the same against great pitching.. but they aren't.


Show me a top level coach who switches batting order around based upon perceived weakness of pitching. At the most they will change to remove lefty-lefty matchups in baseball..which isn't a huge deal in softball. Again you are going to be chasing your tail with this sort of thing.

Sounds like your DD just needs to find a coach who knows what he/she is looking at..
 
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May 12, 2016
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Show me a top level coach who switches batting order around based upon perceived weakness of pitching. At the most they will change to remove lefty-lefty matchups in baseball..which isn't a huge deal in softball. Again you are going to be chasing your tail with this sort of thing.

I figured you had some personal connection to this issue..

Maybe your DD just needs to find a new team which better appreciates her abilities?
Maybe you should stop making idiotic assumptions. Why make things personal? Maybe stats don't support where your DD bats in the order and you are good buddies with the coach... JC, can't have a conversation without pattar thinking there's some kind of conspiracy theory behind all of this, or some hidden agenda. IMO stats are useful and I seen them in action this year with much success. I'm out, bye for now.
 
Jun 8, 2016
16,118
113
Maybe you should stop making idiotic assumptions. Why make things personal? Maybe stats don't support where your DD bats in the order... JC, can't have a conversation without pattar thinking there's some kind of conspiracy theory behind all of this, or some hidden agenda. IMO stats are useful and I seen them in action this year with much success. I'm out, bye for now.
I edited the bolded part out because it was personal, but it was too late. My apologies.

Despite her lousy swing, my DD's stats were where they need to be for her place in the order. That said, overall I wasn't
real happy with the improvement (or lackthereof) in her swing from Fall to Spring.
 
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May 20, 2016
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Can I tell you our top 4 hitters on the team without looking at stats? Absolutely! I thought they were the same against great pitching.. but they aren't.

That is interesting. I'd assume that it would equal out against all competition. Never really saw a good player that hit worse against inferior pitching.
 
Oct 4, 2018
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What age level are we talking here? I'd agree that HS age stats can be helpful. I would not say they can be solely or even largely relied upon because they're accuracy isn't very high.

Yeah, it's an interesting thought. MLB players are scouted because the sample size is huge and easily accessible (game footage).

For little girls, how can you scout?

However, I could easily give really good tips to opposing teams on how to pitch to my girls. Mary swings at high junk -- Sally jumps out of the way at inside stuff -- Betsy can't hit a change-up to save her life and swings at all of them.

So perhaps it can be done.
 
Dec 11, 2010
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That is interesting. I'd assume that it would equal out against all competition. Never really saw a good player that hit worse against inferior pitching.

You are right about the good part.

Usually this is players that lack adjustability in their swing.

They can usually be identified by the whiney voice saying “I can’t hit slow pitching” while they drag their bat back to the dougout after a k. No, Precious, you can’t hit ANY pitching.

Usually they go to instructors that think they need to train 12 year olds to “hit college level pitching”. They special order the gas powered Jugs machine that can throw a softball 95 mph and fuel it with aviation fuel to get that extra 3 mph out of it.
 
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Oct 4, 2018
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Sounds like a guy who knew how to coach and knew the game and hence not coincidentally

I don't coach and don't keep a book or anything. At the end of the year this year (actually prior to the last tournament) I was curious to see what DD was hitting so I signed up for the free 7 day trial on GC to see the stats. If I had ranked the hitters beforehand by OPS, it would lined up almost exactly as I would have thought it would have. Now at the 10U level this is probably easier to do since there typically is a larger disparity between the good hitters and not so good hitters but anybody who has seen players swing through 2 full years and two offseasons (there is very little changeover on DD's team at this point) and has any clue isn't going to have a hard time figuring out who needs to bat at the top of the order and who needs to be at the bottom..it isn't that difficult.

I was a bit surprised at DD's BA until I realized that the GC lady was giving hits for FC ( :LOL: ) after that was figured in she was pretty close to what I had expected.

Yes, if you watch almost all the games, know the sport, and have a decent brain your mental rankings will match Game Changer. I could ask any parent on our team who the top 3 hitters are and they'd almost all get it right.

What I find fascinating is some of the other stats, like contact rate, or hard hit balls. Even who leads in doubles might surprise you. I was often trying to determine who was getting infield singles as I predict those will dry up as defenses get better. Doubles are more often line drives to the gaps (in our games) and I'd rather have those batters in the heart of the order (or earlier) than the ones legging out squibblers to third.
 
Oct 4, 2018
4,611
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That is interesting. I'd assume that it would equal out against all competition. Never really saw a good player that hit worse against inferior pitching.

Our 10U team is similar. Some of the girls can only hit the slow lobs. Others do much, much better against fast pitchers. It's such a dichotomy that I almost changed lineups based on it.
 
Dec 11, 2010
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Even who leads in doubles might surprise you. I was often trying to determine who was getting infield singles as I predict those will dry up as defenses get better. Doubles are more often line drives to the gaps (in our games) and I'd rather have those batters in the heart of the order (or earlier) than the ones legging out squibblers to third.

The surprises are the good stuff.

And it is great fodder to talk about when a kid thinks she is struggling. Can be a real pick me up.
 

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