Pitcher Stats

[cjusports]

Hello,

What is the #1 pitching stat I should be tracking.
Right now I track Pitches, Strikes, Balls, Hit Batter, K's, Walks, Hits, Innings, %Strikes, %Balls, Pitch per Inning, K's per inning, Walks per inning, Runs allowed, ERA, and "WHIP".

Is there anything else I should be tracking?

Thanks

C. Uhl

 

[quincy]

What are you going to do with all these stats? The best pitchers purposely throw a lot of balls out of the strike zone.

I am not sure how to track it but I want the P to be ahead in the count and the batter to be defensive.

 

[Coach-n-Dad]

I was going to ask her age, but last year you posted that she was 10.

She is 11 years old, the only "stat" you should keep right now is "is she having fun". You might want to track her speed to verify it is getting better.

 

[joemcq51]

That seems like alot. I would start with runs allowed. That is a pretty good indicator of success. My 12U DD gets IP, W-L, and runs. We can add more as she gets older and better.

 

[starsnuffer]

I like to know four things: How many batter-runners reach base, how many K's, how many first pitch strikes, and how many strikes thrown on 1-1 counts.

Other things I like to know are walks, but more importantly, what the count was when they walked. Were these 4-0 or 4-1 situations or 4-2 situations.

-W

 

[Sparky Guy]

What is the #1 pitching stat I should be tracking.

#1 ERA That stat is totally on the pitcher.

#2 BA Opponent BA.
#2B Batters faced.

#3 K/BB Ratio

#4 K's/7 innings.

#5 HBP

#6 WP

Most of the other things are busy work. They only come into play at the higher levels.

The three biggest things I watched with my DD was ERA, K/BB and K/7. My DD was a K pitcher. She would normally average between 7-11 K's per game. She thew a lot of pitches. She would have to go deep into the counts a lot.

There is something to watch for that is not in any stat chart. That is the number of errors behind a pitcher. Some pitchers on paper look good, but in reality the defense is getting beat up. They are having nothing but rockets shot at them. They play tentative and make more errors.

During my DD's college senior year she had to call her team out. She noticed they almost always came up with the big and routine plays for her. When one of the other pitchers was in the circle the error count rose and level of play took a noticeable nose dive. Once she did that they did play better, but they were still worked over pretty good because the #2 pitcher found it hard to miss bats with the ball.

 

[shockcoach]

I think you've got it covered. I enter the numbers into my program and it spits out all of those you mentioned. However, they are LA 11 and the one's I look at are ERA, K's, BB and percentage of strikes/ball which would ideally be around 2/3 strikes. With past teams I noticed that more strikes equal more hits. More balls equal more BB and HBP. Use it as a tool, but don't put all your eggs into that basket. Also, keep track of win/loss.

Good luck and have fun with it.

 

[sluggers]

I disagree. In TB, keeping stats is a lot of busy work to keep Daddies from bothering everyone else.

The stats you should track are how many times does a hitter hit the ball hard, how many walks the pitcher gives up and how many runs are allowed each game. Everything else is a bunch of meaningless numbers that can be bent one way or the other depending upon the whim of the Daddy keeping score.

The problem with all the other stats is that the scorekeeper determine what is or is not an error, and that is entirely subjective.

ERA is meaningless. If a batter hits a 100 MPH rocket, then the pitcher made a mistake. It doesn't matter if the RF makes a spectacular catch or if the ball goes over CF fence.

Opposing team BA...again, based on who is keeping score, the BA can vary by 200 points. A pitcher Daddy will always say 3B should have caught the 100 MPH rocket, and score it as an error. On the other hand, the 3B's Daddy will score a slow roller that goes between her legs as a hit.

And, if you've got more than one WP a game, then your pitcher shouldn't even be out on the mound.

 

[Sparky Guy]

And, if you've got more than one WP a game, then your pitcher shouldn't even be out on the mound.

You got that right. She's lost and playing with the boys. I bet if you give her enough time she'll find her way back to the pitcher's plate in the circle and the stars will all align again...

 

[cjusports]

I agree with your post "sluggers", but would disagree with the "Daddy" keeping score.
I'm a coach for our team and was also a coach for my older daughters team. I will not pad anyone's stats, even my DD. I want her to see how she is doing, use the stats to show here pitching coach, etc.
I would not put her up higher on stats and watch her get picked up by a team as a guest pitcher and not live up to what she is doing concerning her stats.
I do however know Daddies that will pad their DD stats (pitching/batting), in my mind this only hurts their DD and makes the Daddy keeping stats look like his only goal is to see their DD at the top of any list (pitching/batting).

Thank you for your response.

C. Uhl