Stats question

[BillyB]

BABIP is a big one for me as well.

 

[uncdrew]

Agree that Garbage In=Garbage Out.

Couple of thoughts…On offense, I would recommend looking at HHB, Quality At Bats (QABs), and probably OBP or OPS. Even though HHB is a subjective gauge by the scorekeeper, I generally find that those who are recorded as having the most HHB correspond to the best hitters on the team (or those that have the most potential to be). For me, it often tends to match up with what you see with your own eyes.

On pitching: I like looking at FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), which gives you a sense for how the pitcher is doing overall without “punishing” her for potentially poor defensive play. I also like WHIP, which gives you a sense of how much base traffic there is each inning. Will look at S%, FPS%, BBs, Ks, and % of HHB. Apart from ERA, the pitching stats are harder for a scorekeeper to screw up as long as they paying attention because they don’t require any judgement (was it a ball or a strike?).

Good post.

Also, things like Ks and OBP and BB are hard to get wrong in GameChanger.

So which of your girls strike out the most, which of your pitchers walk the most batters. Those are telling stats and not really subjective - they should get entered correctly by whomever does GameChanger.

I like C% as well. Contact Percentage. (AB-K)/AB

 

[uncdrew]

there are a couple areas of QAB that is wierd. First pitch solid singles aren't really a QAB.

I think QAB is garbage. I've seen bad hitters with high QAB and great hitters with low QAB

 

[Lance Steckler]

certain parts of QAB are cool, and much easier tracked versus back in the day book. like number of pitches after 2 strikes.

 

[uncdrew]

certain parts of QAB are cool, and much easier tracked versus back in the day book. like number of pitches after 2 strikes.

Yeah, but # of pitches after two strikes depends a lot on the pitcher. Back in 10U when I started coaching with Game Changer, it would give a quality at bat to the girl who didn't swing at 3 balls over her head. Basically, it was rewarding them for stuff that was a bit goofy.

As pitching gets better, I'm sure QAB means more or shows more. But even number of pitches after 2 strikes is odd. If the next pitch is a fastball down the middle, I hope number of pitches after 2 strikes is 1.

 

[Sweet Lou]

Been awhile since I ran a team but on game changer I liked to sort the team by a variety of metrics and see who filtered up to the top. Often it would the best players would be at or near the top in most metrics and the stats would line up with what I saw in the "eye" test.

Other times I'd see things in the stats that wouldn't line up with my perception of the player which would cause me to reevaluate them in practice/games. Sometimes I'd chalk it up to small sample size in the stats and other times I might change my opinion of the player as a hitter for good or ill.

 

[CoachJD]

I think QAB is garbage. I've seen bad hitters with high QAB and great hitters with low QAB

Just looked up what qualifies as a QAB.

Any single not marked as a hard hit ball (which is obviously super subjective) is not a QAB (sorry, slappers/great bunters).

A five-pitch at bat that goes strike, strike, two terrible pitches nobody would swing at, caught looking on a fastball down the middle with bases loaded and two outs in a tie game is a QAB.

A sacrifice bunt is a QAB even though sac bunts are usually bad for the offense.

Bad stat. Nice idea, but a bad stat.

 

[uncdrew]

Just looked up what qualifies as a QAB.

Any single not marked as a hard hit ball (which is obviously super subjective) is not a QAB (sorry, slappers/great bunters).

A five-pitch at bat that goes strike, strike, two terrible pitches nobody would swing at, caught looking on a fastball down the middle with bases loaded and two outs in a tie game is a QAB.

A sacrifice bunt is a QAB even though sac bunts are usually bad for the offense.

Bad stat. Nice idea, but a bad stat.

Exactly. After a mediocre season of 10U B- travel ball, QAB basically listed our worst hitters as our best hitters and vice versa. It might work better for better teams and older girls, but the more I dug into it, the more it seemed off to me.

 

[chinamigarden]

OPS. ROE (helps get past inaccurate scoring) and RBI, Ks to walks, were all important to me

 

[CoachJD]

OPS. ROE (helps get past inaccurate scoring) and RBI, Ks to walks, were all important to me

Using ROE is interesting, especially because of your reasoning (which makes a lot of sense).

Studies have confirmed what should be intuitive: ground ball hitters ROE more, right-handed hitters ROE more, and fast hitters ROE more. (This is for baseball, so I'd imagine that slappers also ROE more, too)

On the other hand, I think RBI would be the very last stat I'd use in determining a hitter's worth. It tells you much more about the quality of the hitters who bat ahead of someone.