How good are the MLB Pros staticstically ?

[MVLA Softball]

"Ty Cobb holds the record for highest career batting average with .367, 9 points higher than Rogers Hornsby who has the second highest average in history at .358.

Interestingly, here is Hornsby's approach. I just don't see him hitting .358 if he were to use this approach in 2010.

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[Hitter]

From Mike Epsteins site from 2000…”Once again, smart hitters and coaches are capitalizing on baseball’s changing conditions. The outfield dimensions in today’s ball parks are much smaller, hitters are considerably bigger and stronger, infielders are more agile and athletic than ever, equipment is better, the height of the pitchers’ mound is lower, the baseball is "livelier," and the strike zones have been reduced to "postage-size" dimensions.”

This has nothing to do with Mike however he made an observation back in 2000 and stated an opinion and yet we still see the average .266 type results in spite of all of our efforts! Why is that?

From the net….”For non-pitchers, a batting average below .230 is often considered poor, and one below .200 is completely unacceptable. This latter level is known as "The Mendoza Line", named for Mario Mendoza, a stellar defensive shortstop who hit .215 during his Major League career.”

“The league batting average in Major League Baseball for 2004 was just higher than .266, and the all-time league average is between .260 and .275.”
From the net…”Sabermetrics, the study of baseball statistics, considers batting average a weak measure of performance because it does not correlate as well as other measures to runs scored, and because it has little predictive value. Batting average does not take into account walks or power, whereas other statistics such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage have been specifically designed to measure such concepts. “

“Adding these statistics together form a player's On-base plus slugging or "OPS". This is commonly seen as a much better, though not perfect, indicator of a player's overall batting ability as it is a measure of hitting for average, hitting for power and drawing bases on balls.”


Avg. OBP SLG OPS
2009 average AL .266 .335 .428 .763
2009 average NL .259 .330 .409 .739
2002 average AL .264 .331 .424 .755
2002 average NL .259 .331 .410 .741
American League top 5 2009
1. Joe Mauer, MIN .365.
2. Ichiro Suzuki, SEA .352
3. Derek Jeter, NYY .334
4. Miguel Cabrera, DET .324
5. Michael Young, TEX .322

National League top 5 2009
1. Hanley Ramirez, FLA .342
2. Pablo Sandoval, SFO .330
3. Albert Pujols, STL .327
4. Todd Helton, COL .325
5. Joey Votto, CIN .322

American League top 5 2002
1. Manny Ramirez, BOS .349
2. Mike Sweeney, KAN .340
3. Bernie Williams, NYY .333
4. Ichiro Suzuki, SEA .321
5. Magglio Ordonez, CHW .320

National League top 5 2002
1. Barry Bonds, SFO .370
2. Larry Walker, COL .338
3. Vladimir Guerrero, MON .336
4. Todd Helton, COL .329
5. Chipper Jones, ATL .327


In my opinion if 47% is vision related and that TSW had 20/10 vision and Crystl has 20/9 in the left eye and 20/8 in the right then vision and possibly vision training as related to which stance you use, how much you roll your shoulder in and how far you stand off the plate could be a bigger factor than we think.

I wonder what the top 5 player’s vision is from each league?

Now what in their mechanics would suggest the biggest improvements next that would pay the huge dividends of improving the hitters and in what order of importance would you place them?

For example stance, open, closed parallel, stance width, shoulder width or shoulders width and half, grip type and differences in bottom hand grip verses top hand grip, load, over the leg inside, picking up the foot, no stride or a little stride, stepping flat footed or eversion, separation walk away from hands, move the hands rearward, height of hands, connection, bat lag, contact, extension, finish?

How would you break down the remaining 53% of variation and what would you focus on that would raise the MLB batting averages?

Yes there is some style involved however if the player is deemed successful would you not want to duplicate the whole swing or just what YOU consider important as an instructor, player, coach or parent?

From the net…"So there are several cognitive factors that affect hitting, what about the visual aspect of hitting? (Hofeldt, 1993) implied that visual ability as measured by
stereo photometry accounts for 47% or more of the variation in batting averages of the Major League players.
A study done by Mulia (1998), sought to find a stronger relationship between visual function and hitting a baseball. Multiple parameters including near and distant stereopsis were measured in 23 returning college baseball the level of stereopsis was measured by a B-VAT II BVS Binocular Vision Testing System."

"Batting statistics were compared with batting averages and slugging percentages. There
was no correlation between distance stereopsis and any hitting performance parameters."

"The relationship between eye dominance and batting skills in baseball (Classe, 1996) was investigated. A vision screening of 215 professional baseball players in the Southern Baseball League was performed and the eye dominance of these players determined by a sighting test. The vision screening indicated that 66% of the subjects were right-eye dominant. Also, 60% of the subjects had matched dominant eye and hands. It was found that there was no statistically significant difference between batters with matched dominance and those with crossed dominance."

"JM Portal (1998), studied ocular sighting dominance in collegiate baseball. The study examined patterns of eye and hand dominance and to see if there was a correlation between handed, dominance, and success. The study specifically examined whether crossed eye- hand dominance favors the hitter. Twenty-five collegiate baseball players were studied with none being ambidextrous. The subject’s visual acuity, stereoscopic vision, ocular modality and ocular sighting dominance were determined. The result of this study indicated that the player who batted with the same eye and hand dominance achieved the most successful batting performance."

Another thought associated with this is what do you consider when teaching the MLB Elite Swing Pattern when you first start working with the young ones?
What is first on your mind from the day you meet your new student?

Now it is time for what YOU do verses what you think you see in a perfect clip and what clip you choose to use to teach from.

Thanks Howard