How do you determine if a pitcher is doing well?
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Wins and losses, not even close. ERA and hits can be pretty misleading. I look at ball/strike ratio, first strike ratio, walks, how often is she working from behind, average pitches per inning, etc.
"Well" is always relative-- relative to how she did in the recent past, relative to how she compares to others with similar experience, relative to what she should be able to do a this point in her development.
So what do you like to see with these: ball/strike ratio, first strike ratio, walks, how often is she working from behind, average pitches per inning.
When you are looking at average pitches per inning, how do you account for errors which have caused the pitcher to pitcher to additional batters that she would not otherwise have pitched to?
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And then factor in competition level.
^^this here. . .
I chart every pitch so I am able to track these things. Keep in mind that these values will be different depending on age and level of competition. You need to find out where you are and raise the bar. I found that if you take care of the small things the bigger things take care of themselves.
65-75% - Strikes
70 - 80% - First Strikes
Working from behind - Never is optimal
Pitches per inning - Anywhere from 3 - 15 is optimal. I have found that when you get past 15 into 20+ things tend to go down hill.
As to the effect of errors on pitch count; I keep track of outs that we give the other team. If you are not tracking this you need to start. This is a true error or anything where you should have gotten an out. At the end of the game for every 3 outs you gave away equates to an extra inning on offense for the opposition. If you hit for 7 innings and they hit for 9 it is really hard to win ball games.
- Dec 7, 2011
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K/BB is still my litmus
I think it's good to compare a pitchers performance form game to game but has limited use comparing pitchers. Especially if one is effective and the other is dominant.
Which is better 1BB/3K's or 4BB/12K's?
Obviously 1BB/12K's is head and shoulders above 4BB/12'ks.
From a stat book:
1) Walks per game: 1 walk is good, 2 is average, 3 is poor.
2) Strike outs per game: 10 is good, 5 is average, 2 is poor.
3) Runs: 2 or less is good; 4 or 3 is average, 5 or more is poor. (You can always argue, "The pitcher shouldn't be blamed for runs caused by errors," but the pitcher is blamed for losing a game, and losing the game is a function of the runs allowed.)
4) Hits: 4 or less is good; 7 or less is average, 8 or more is poor.
From observation:
How hard are they hitting the ball?
If the other team is hitting pop ups and ground balls, then the pitcher is doing well. If a ground ball finds its way through the infield, so what? It happens.
If the other team is hitting screaming line drives, then even if the infield is catching everything, then the pitcher is doing poorly.
1) Walks per game: 1 walk is good, 2 is average, 3 is poor.
2) Strike outs per game: 10 is good, 5 is average, 2 is poor.
3) Runs: 2 or less is good; 4 or 3 is average, 5 or more is poor. (You can always argue, "The pitcher shouldn't be blamed for runs caused by errors," but the pitcher is blamed for losing a game, and losing the game is a function of the runs allowed.)
4) Hits: 4 or less is good; 7 or less is average, 8 or more is poor.
From observation:
How hard are they hitting the ball?
If the other team is hitting pop ups and ground balls, then the pitcher is doing well. If a ground ball finds its way through the infield, so what? It happens.
If the other team is hitting screaming line drives, then even if the infield is catching everything, then the pitcher is doing poorly.
