Slap Hitting Batting Averages

29dad is exactly right, why college coaches watch them play and not stats. At the tourney my dd was recruited by her current college coach, she faced pitchers that had already signed to pitch in college. Some big D1's. She was the gold teams lead off hitter and got on base 80% of the time with one K. The coach stated she didn't care how she got on base, but that she was getting on base. She signed her to be her lead off hitter in college as a slapper. She hates high school ball. She told me once if she wanted to she could get walked about every time up. I watched her foul off 8 pitches around the plate , till the pitcher just gave up and walked her. The best compliment a coach every paid her, was he told her " How do the H!!! do we get you out" That was after a bunt and a soft slap and they played her in and the third time up was a line drive stand up triple off the right field fence with two runs scoring for the end of the game, against a state ranked team.

I don't know jack about slapping, but I'll add my two cents on stats ... Yes, on-base average is big, but I'd also want to know the breakdown of hits, walks, reached-on-error. If you're batting.200 but getting on base .500, you've got to question the level of competition you're getting.

Goobie said:

DD's high school had four slappers in a row (9-1-2-3) in the batting order. Kept them that way all season. All season it seemed like it was four outs in a row... mostly routine 4-3 put outs. (groan)
btw... I have nothing against players that can actually slap and get the job done.

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Ok, I'm no coach, but that arrangement doesn't make sense to me. Aren't you supposed to go with speed/high OBP (the typical slapper stats) for the first two hitters and then bring in power hitters behind them to drive them in?