Grounders vs ball in the air

[slingnit]

Hitting Performance Lab Baseball Hitting Drills For Kids: The UGLY Truth About Ground-Balls ⋆ Hitting Performance Lab


Curious of opinions, does this pertains as much to softball as it does baseball given shorter base paths, slappers, etc...

 

[quincy]

3 things need to happen on a grounder. The fielder needs to catch it, throw it accuratel and someone has to catch it.

Plus runners have an opportunity to advance.

 

[CoogansBluff]

3 things need to happen on a grounder. The fielder needs to catch it, throw it accuratel and someone has to catch it.

Plus runners have an opportunity to advance.

If you're comparing a routine ground ball to a routine fly ball, then yes.

But would you rather have a ground ball, or a non-ground ball, assuming that both are playable?

I'd rather have the non-grounder. That would include almost every home run, double and triple, plus a lot of singles.

 

[quincy]

If you hit the ball hard goods things will happen either in the air or on the ground.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

Taking slapping out of the equation for a moment .....

The goal of swinging away should be a line-drive, with 50% of non-linedrives being grounders and 50% of non-linedrives being fly-balls.

General rule of thumb is that 80% of line-drives will be productive hits. The percentages for grounders and fly-balls is roughly 30% in terms of productivity.

 

[slingnit]

I would like to see actual data because I am torn in the logic. With 190 ft fences and smaller playing surface many line drives become playable. Same with infield, hot grounders to the corners are misplayed or just not enough reaction time to make a play.

 

[CoogansBluff]

With 190 ft fences and smaller playing surface many line drives become playable.

When the fences are 190, the 200-foot fly ball is no longer playable. That's pretty significant at the higher levels.

In the SEC last year, teams hit HR every 24 at-bats. And that was vs. other SEC teams. Against their whole schedule, they were going yard more than that. In MLB, teams hit HR only every 33 AB. So, SEC teams hit 37.5 percent more home runs against each other than MLB teams hit against each other. That's a lot of incentive to want to get the ball in the air, IMO.

 

[quincy]

The problem I have with SEC and MLB stats like that is while they are interesting and thank you for posting the information, they are playing a different game then DD.

 

[CoogansBluff]

The problem I have with SEC and MLB stats like that is while they are interesting and thank you for posting the information, they are playing a different game then DD.

True, although even 10U players who lift balls over the heads of outfielders or into the gap, or even just high into the air against 10U girls who lack range and haven't mastered catching flies on the run, can wreak havoc. Power hitters are valuable at any level.

That said, I suppose the value of a grounder vs. a fly changes may vary depending on the skill/age level. For one thing, the value of an extra-base hit declines at lower/younger levels because it's much easier to get extra bases in other ways (ie, WP, PB, SB). So often a single is as good as a triple. It's more of a get-on-base game.

But practically speaking, how does that effect the way we coach? I've never encouraged a player to hit more ground balls. I prefer that they get the ball into the air. I think that will pay off in the long run, IMHO.

 

[FiveFrameSwing]

3 things need to happen on a grounder. The fielder needs to catch it, throw it accuratel and someone has to catch it.

Fielding, throwing and catching should be fairly routine acts for those that take up the game.

Plus runners have an opportunity to advance.

With a runner on 1B, a grounder to the 2Ber can be a quick double play. One of the times that a strikeout can be considered the preferred out over a ball put in play.