Batting Averages

[_MIA_]

Thats a good point
How are they swinging?
You asking....
...slugging percentage????
Is that relative to how good the pitching is?
Think so !

Parents need to educate themselves as to what a good swing is and strive towards that. Improvement in one's swing shouldn't be dependent on how good the pitching is at whatever level they are playing at. Control what you can control. Work to improve your skills, the statistics will come.

 

[djcarter1966]

True RAD...on a good day with good composite and good ball I can stand in the batters box and hit the ball to the fence (200ft) just tossing the ball to myself one handed....way different than 30-40 years ago

Batting averages are really tough to gauge...MLB comparison are pretty useless...their scores are kept properly, competition is level and sample size is HUGE!

Given what the softball universe today .300 -.400 seems to be where your good hitters should be, I'm old school small ball kinda guy I care more about OBP which a lot of girls push .500. but still going with the stats are not as meaningful for softball as a general rule..that being said I would use it as an indicator or datapoint that might make me look at something closer.

 

[_MIA_]

As a reference point, my DD's first year 12U softball team (playing mostly second year B teams and first year 12's) had a team BA of .326 in the Fall. One kid (wasn't my kid) hit .535 (next highest BA was .389) and she was really the only one who I would say actually hit well all Fall.

 

[radness]

Parents need to educate themselves as to what a good swing is and strive towards that. Improvement in one's swing shouldn't be dependent on how good the pitching is at whatever level they are playing at. Control what you can control. Work to improve your skills, the statistics will come.

This is another good point...
Geez pattar your on a role today....
* Educate on what a good swing is!

So heres a question
How many see a player with a swing that they think looks good.
But terrible slugging percentage?

Is that attribute to
Playing in wrong a, b,c league
Or
Not training correctly
(like only hitting off a tee)
Or
Not all hitting mechanics work well with all pitch locations

Hmmmmmm?

Have funnnn!!!

 

[uncdrew]

Well said.

HS and travel statistics are for entertainment purposes only.

So true.

At lower ages you can legit have players over .500 -- not because of parent scoring. It's just batting practice pitching with not great defense.

 

[_MIA_]

So heres a question
How many see a player with a swing that they think looks good.
But terrible slugging percentage?

If the sample size is large enough then 99% of the time the person needs to re-evaluate what they think is a good swing is . There are the rare circumstances where a kid may just not be physically strong enough to keep up at a certain level but that would be at the 10U/12U level most of the time. Even in those cases if the kid is weak but has a great swing they will typically do fine...(and when I say a good swing I am talking about the mental aspect as well e.g. approach, etc)

 

[CoachJD]

So heres a question
How many see a player with a swing that they think looks good.
But terrible slugging percentage?

The kid may not have any ability to recognize pitch type/location. The kid may not be quick enough to get the timing down for faster pitching. The kid might not be able to adjust to different speeds. All these can be fatal flaws even with a good swing.

 

[_MIA_]

The kid may not have any ability to recognize pitch type/location. The kid may not be quick enough to get the timing down for faster pitching. The kid might not be able to adjust to different speeds. All these can be fatal flaws even with a good swing.

I personally wouldn't consider somebody who had these flaws (in particular the last one) to be somebody who had a good swing.The second may be due to strength but typically isn't. The first one would usually come around with experience (unless they have eye problems.. )

 

[radness]

The kid may not have any ability to recognize pitch type/location. The kid may not be quick enough to get the timing down for faster pitching. The kid might not be able to adjust to different speeds. All these can be fatal flaws even with a good swing.

Think these are great suggestion possibilities.

Perhaps addressing these topics with approach to type of training.
Live pitching does wonders!!!!
Learning to react
maybe answer to all 3 ?!

 

[CrazyNani]

In HS-age sports, be it school ball or travel, I always take any stat with a grain of salt. Typically the score-keeper is a parent or coach who does not fully understand the intricacies of keeping the book.

Also I agree with Coach JD, in HS the conferences vary so much between each other and also within each other. You typically will see 1-2 “powerhouse” teams that blow every one else away. Tough to know (if you can’t be present at the games) if the teams are truly that good, or do they just play in a weaker conference? Same with travel - who exactly are they playing and at what level?

Parent last week, scored our DD, ROE when she actually beat out a slow grounder to SS. Also, didn't give her 3 stolen bases in the game, instead, calling them errors. They weren't. All beat the throws. Whatever, Coach knows what's what.