Rec League Stats - which ones are worth paying attention to?

[obbay]

I know, None of them. now that we got that out of the way, I'm talking Little League/U12.

I keep track of some stats as I think it helps me keep things in perspective. Like for instance a kid who starts out slow but steadily improves or starts out strong and gradually fades - I may not notice but the stats exercise brings it to my attention. sometimes it's a kid who seems to strike out a lot, but then I see her OBP is over .600.

the two I pay the most attention to (and share with the other coaches) are AVG and OBP.
I do not think our team hits well, but we have more than half the team hitting over 500. (Granted the bunting game has been working well for us)

what kind of AVG/OBP should we be shooting for in this kind of league, or is this really a question that's relative to whatever the competition is??

Or maybe my first answer is correct - No stats are significant when working with kids.

 

[CoachKevin]

Stats are only as good as the scorekeeper. If you don't think the team is hitting well, but more than half of them are hitting over .500, that tells me the stats are inflated. So really it doesn't do you any good to look at them.

Maybe a stat where they put the ball in play?

 

[redhotcoach]

Not many....OBP, can't lie about that. About half way through season, I pretty much quit looking at mine. I have only one parent that can do the book. Their daughter takes every batter she walks to full count even though the one time I had her in I counted 12 balls in a row. I looked last Thurs. my dd hit a laser in gap between ss and 2nd........"E-6" recorded, I just had to chuckle. Call them on it and do book myself, or just forget it?

 

[obbay]

my dd hit a laser in gap between ss and 2nd........"E-6" recorded

happened to my other DD (with 2 outs) on the other side between 1B and 2B, right fielder bobbled it and it was recorded as an E-4.
the hit started a rally and she scored the tying run. coach e-mailed the team after, talking about the great comeback, said nothing about DD and credited the girls after DD with starting the rally and winning the game.

I may go back over the book and doublecheck the stats.

 

[SoCalDad]

Whenever this topic comes up I am reminded of a 10U game where the other teams two pitchers were at school camp and the team had to go with a girl who had never pitched in a game (rec league allowed a coach to only reschedule one game per season and the other coach had already used his). At the end of the game my team had a .000 AVG with a 1.000 OBP. For two innings she walked or hit every girl until the 6 run limit. The only silver lining is she can always brag that the stats show she threw a no-hitter.

 

[amanda_cake]

Luckily for my teams, I keep the book and do the stats. Being an experienced player, I expect a lot out of those girls. If it's gray, I lean towards giving out the error...

 

[redhotcoach]

Luckily for my teams, I keep the book and do the stats. Being an experienced player, I expect a lot out of those girls. If it's gray, I lean towards giving out the error...

That is way too much multi-tasking for most of us men.

 

[amanda_cake]

That is way too much multi-tasking for most of us men.

No way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks could I do both at the same time lol. Do the book, get the stats later! The girls wouldn't let me manage to do both... it's hard enough keeping the book in a dugout filled with 10u girls.

 

[obbay]

I do the book and try to keep it age appropriate. I know one guy who thought every hit in the infield should be an out and scored everything that got through as an E. I may be lax in that area as I'm more concerned about recording the other team reaching on Errors. An FC is an FC. when doing the stats, I usually count them as hits if they didn't result in outs. so you can see how the numbers can get inflated.

 

[Momo'sDad]

All I care about are the fun meter and how many girls sign up immediately for the next available season of softball.

As for the book, if a player rounds the bases on bad infield throws, it's not really a home run. I am interested in how often a player gets on and which players are watching strike 3, but I keep my own book to track the entire game so that workouts can be tailored accordingly.