Stats are great - at the end of the season. Not helpful at all at the start of the season when you are setting up the batting order.
Yep, any coach that strictly uses the "eye test" is either arrogant or incompetent or both. No one has a good enough eye to rely solely on it.but a lot of the "eye test" is merely an excuse for favoritism in my experience. of course your stats could be off (I am not certain how many ROE or FC are recorded as hits this past seasons say, but I think it is probably pretty much the same for all the girls). one that is hard to fudge is K%
eye test by DDs coach this past spring certainly was not accurate. DDs ranks on her team
K% - 2 (ie second lowest)
BA - 5
BA/RISP - 2
OBP - 5
2 out RBI - 1
all while being solidly in bottom half for PA. could not break into top 6 (most games batted at least 10) in BO ever. cannot count how many times she (or CR for her) was left on base, because nothing behind her. meanwhile girls with more Ks looking than DD had total Ks were in top 5.
stats tell me she hardly ever struck out, got on base decent amount (good eye, does not swing at junk), and was clutch when it mattered (against really good pitcher in championship game at nationals (C level), she had one of three hits in the game (they lost 1 -0) as a PH, her only AB of the game). but other girls were more physically developed, looked great during soft toss or tee work (very little live BP), or were DD of coaches ( or HCs DGD).
I used to compare stats from the same HS games and it amazed me how far off they were from each other. Teams never matched on errors because they were inflating BA's, reducing ERA's or both. What I really got a kick out of was how often strikeouts and walks didn't even match. Some coaches will go to any length to get their kids post season awards. Between that, and scorekeepers not knowing what their doing stats don't mean much. Even if they're accurate if the kid is on a 1A or 4A team the stats will be vastly different.
2 out RBI - 1
I am a believer in using stats but i am glad dd's coach doesn't just go by them.
First 3 tournaments of summer
BA .111 couldn't get a hard hit ball that wasn't right at someone or get a bloop to drop
Last 3 tournaments
BA .500 4 HR 8 doubles 2 triples. I walk off 3 run homerun to win by 1 and 1 grandslam to win a game 4-3.
The pitching was much better in last 3 tournaments.
She had played for this coach for a year and a half previously so he knew the kind of hitter she was. He did move her down from number 3 in batting order to 6 and even didn't bat in a game for first time in years. She has worked back up to 5 in batting order and really wants her 3 spot back bad
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but a lot of the "eye test" is merely an excuse for favoritism in my experience. of course your stats could be off (I am not certain how many ROE or FC are recorded as hits this past seasons say, but I think it is probably pretty much the same for all the girls). one that is hard to fudge is K%
eye test by DDs coach this past spring certainly was not accurate. DDs ranks on her team
K% - 2 (ie second lowest)
BA - 5
BA/RISP - 2
OBP - 5
2 out RBI - 1
all while being solidly in bottom half for PA. could not break into top 6 (most games batted at least 10) in BO ever. cannot count how many times she (or CR for her) was left on base, because nothing behind her. meanwhile girls with more Ks looking than DD had total Ks were in top 5.
stats tell me she hardly ever struck out, got on base decent amount (good eye, does not swing at junk), and was clutch when it mattered (against really good pitcher in championship game at nationals (C level), she had one of three hits in the game (they lost 1 -0) as a PH, her only AB of the game). but other girls were more physically developed, looked great during soft toss or tee work (very little live BP), or were DD of coaches ( or HCs DGD).
Stats over the very short term (a game or two) aren't worth much. As observed above, someone can be 0-3 and unlucky with three rocket-shots, and someone else 3-3 with bloopers and seeing-eye grounders. However, that tends to normalize over the length of a tournament. Rolling stats sampled over 2-3 back-to-back tournaments tell a relevant and compelling story; if you ignore it in favor of what you "think" you see, you're short-changing your team.
A player who CAN hit the ball really well, but rarely does, isn't nearly as useful as someone who regularly hits solid singles, occasionally a double, and draws walks when they don't hit. Which would you rather have in a higher spot in the lineup...a player who went 1-4 with a triple / HR, or a player that went 4-4 with two base hits and two walks? Or even 3-4? Sure, if that HR comes with bases loaded and down by three in the final inning, it's pretty important, but if it's a solo shot, not so much.
I think it's a combination of the two things. Stats can be deceiving but they can also provide insight. There have been times when a girl is 0 for in a tournament but then I remember that she hit the ball hard almost every time and really got hit with a little bad luck. The inverse can be true. A girl's 3 for 3 in a game with 3 duck farts.
To say you never look at them though is also wrong in my opinion. Sometimes you can have a perception of a girl that is outdated or unfair and looking at the stats can help you see that. Sometimes you just can't remember all the hits as well and stats help you remember.
Some stats can be deceiving, especially pitching stats in travel ball.
Example. The #4 pitcher on my team had the best ERA, and WHIP on the team I coached. The #2 pitcher had the 2nd best ERA, and WHIP on the team. The #1 pitcher had the 3rd best ERA, and WHIP.
My #1 pitcher pitched in most of the Championship games, and against the best team, we would play in Pool Play. The #4 pitcher would pitch a pool play game against teams that were not very good.
You don't know who your best hitters are without looking at stats?Yep, any coach that strictly uses the "eye test" is either arrogant or incompetent or both. No one has a good enough eye to rely solely on it.