How many ABs? Whats her OBP? What age group? Is she a slapper? IMO the lead off hitter can not be batting .178. I would move her to the 9 hole. The change might help her too.
Influence of Slugging Percentage or ?
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I think coaches should consider who is hot. And who is not. Who is seeing the ball well. Who is confident. This is softball and you don't have time to let a hitter work their way out of a slump or figure it out. If Jenny had 3 hits and 5 quality ABs in pool play and your normal 2 hole hitter stuck out twice and hit a couple weak GBs and lacked confidence, Jenny gets the nod. If the players know they can go from 2 hole to riding the pine they can not get complacent and will work harder. Now if she is the coaches daughter none of this applies. LOL
- Dec 11, 2010
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QAB is a rabbit hole of wishful thinking.
- Mar 7, 2016
- 242
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small sample size due to covid. only reason she is lead off is she became hot as of late
28 ABs
.248 WOBA
.235 OBP
.531 OPS
6/6 last plate appearances just started the season slow and was batting lower half of lineup. 14U, she can slap/drag, has blazing speed. Her contact has been so solid though its difficult to make that call esp when she lacks the confidence for small ball (thats on me though) also not the coaches DD.
Sometimes where someone hits makes a difference. Some kids don't do well at leadoff or in the 3-4 hole. On our best teams we rarely messed with the top 4 but the next 5 would change weekly depending on who was hitting. If you are in the 3-4 hole you won't see as many strikes at the 6-7 hitter. If you get someone with bad plates they can get themselves out a lot.
One thing that I always like to is have a leadoff that can do some damage. If you have a deep lineup they will often get up in some big situations. It also forces the other team to not get too cute with the bottom of the order so they get some good pitches to hit.
One thing that I always like to is have a leadoff that can do some damage. If you have a deep lineup they will often get up in some big situations. It also forces the other team to not get too cute with the bottom of the order so they get some good pitches to hit.
I really like the 'Contact Percentage' and 'Hard Hit Balls' stats for our younger team.
In the little 75 minute tournaments we play, the leadoff batter almost always gets one more At Bat per game than the bottom of the order. I think it's more important than ever to bat someone who makes contact and hits the ball hard. For the second and third at bat in the game.
We tend to leadoff with our fastest girl, but since she rarely gets hits, it burns us later in the game.
Honestly, I think it's garbage (at the 10U level). You are rewarded because you didn't swing at a few pitches over your head? huh?
Not sure what defines a QAB on gamechanger but I know one when I see one.
As a coach I always keep a copy of the lineup and a pencil with me at all times. During the game I will place dots next to each person's name based on things I see. By the end of the game my lineup looks like a college football helmet with stickers all over it. I may give credit to a hitter that belts a line drive that is caught on a dive by an outfielder, but may choose not to give credit to someone that walked on a borderline pitch that probably should have been strike three. Just examples... Anyway, I use my own notes in conjunction with stats to make my decisions. As a statistics major in college, I realize how inaccurate they can be, especially with small sample sizes. But I also realize that bias can impact decisions without even knowing it. By using a combination of processes, I hope to avoid those things.
I've told this story before. My oldest starting playing travel at 10U (a loooong time ago) and their team was awful. It was one of the first travel teams in the area. The head coach asked me to help keep score. He also gave out helmet stickers for 'accomplishments' which with this over-matched, young team ended up being for 'quality at-bats' (given after every game in the team huddle!) since no one was actually hitting. It was soooo fun defining QABs such that a) everybody got some stickers and b) no one got left tooooo far behind. Hey, you worked to a full count there! Nice job!
(Thankfully, my older DD later got on good teams and my younger DD started at a higher level so we all outgrew that painful experience lol, most thankfully me
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