You HS and youth players that know your stats...

[CoachHenry]

How do you know them? Does your coach tell you what they are or does someone keep track in the stands?

[Jake Patterson]

How do you know them? Does your coach tell you what they are or does someone keep track in the stands?

At some point the numbers start to matter more and more. I let my school team know their stats. They are what they are. At LL level I found that few coaches know how to keep accurate stats so they become less relevent.
Jake

[CoachHenry]

At some point the numbers start to matter more and more. I let my school team know their stats. They are what they are. At LL level I found that few coaches know how to keep accurate stats so they become less relevent.
Jake

Why do you say they mean more and more? Just curious here, not judging. My son is just now a freshmen and I'm sure they don't tell them. Of course that's freshmen ball.

I coached my son all the way to HS (rec then traveling, etc) and we never told them. We analyzed the stats both for season and recent games to spot trends and for possible modifications to the batting order. They gave us some collateral information to assist in that.

[Jake Patterson]

When we cut through all the bluster baseball is about numbers. At his age he should know his stats. If the coach doesn't want to share he should track his own. At 14/15 I would let the players know where they stand. There may be reasons why the coach isn't telling them. I let a few games go so things settle out before I tell the players where they stand.

Why do you say they mean more and more? Just curious here, not judging. My son is just now a freshmen and I'm sure they don't tell them. Of course that's freshmen ball.

I coached my son all the way to HS (rec then traveling, etc) and we never told them. We analyzed the stats both for season and recent games to spot trends and for possible modifications to the batting order. They gave us some collateral information to assist in that.

[wogdoggy]

we've played 5 games in about a 65 game season..when do you start moving kids around based on stats?

[CoachHenry]

we've played 5 games in about a 65 game season..when do you start moving kids around based on stats?

I never went solely on stats. Some kids hit great when there are less then two outs and some don't hit well with men on base, etc. All those things that you can certainly track with some software but we generally regularly don't do though I did use software to do the normal stats and occasionally peeked at the advanced stats. As soon as you start to see a trend emerge you can allow those stats to influence your decisions. Five games may be too soon because we haven't had time to move some kids around and see how they do. For instance if we had the right mix of kids we would have players in the #1 and #2 spot and would have those same type players in the #5 and #6 spot yet not as strong at the #1 and #2. The #5 and #6 kids MAY need to get some time in the #1 and #2 spot to see what is what. Some kids that are great in practice may not be able to handle a certain spot in the lineup during games. And on and on.

One thing that is interesting is that if you use some decent lineup software and put in your game it will generate lineups based on some theories. For example the little example I gave with the #1 and #2 batters, another that says start strong, stay strong then let the rest fall where they may, and so on. It is a fun exercise and makes you think a bit.

Overall I'd start tracking the numbers however you do with Excel or more advanced software. That way 20 games into the season you aren't so bogged down that you just don't do it.

One team my son was on didn't look at the numbers at all but went with how they felt. Later when we started to look at the numbers they didn't support impressions. For instance one kid was a steady producer while another was hell on wheels for a while, went cold, came back, etc. Do you want the streaky kid or the steady producer at your #3 spot? Depends.

[virg]

When we cut through all the bluster baseball is about numbers. At his age he should know his stats. If the coach doesn't want to share he should track his own. At 14/15 I would let the players know where they stand. There may be reasons why the coach isn't telling them. I let a few games go so things settle out before I tell the players where they stand.

Numbers don't lie, but in kid ball they can fib like crazy.
Overall BA comes from a score book that can't tell one pitcher from another; entries made by a friendly clerk who might give you the breaks. Be honest with yourself. Brutally honest wouldn't hurt. Who cracks into the one-hitters and the other close games? Anybody/everybody hits in a scalping party against a softie. Who does the damage when the going is tough?

Where's your true amateur BA? Use the score book for one look, and the toughest pitchers for another to round-out the view.

[Jake Patterson]

we've played 5 games in about a 65 game season..when do you start moving kids around based on stats?

Game 6 .....

[wogdoggy]

lol....

[callyjr]

Andrew Jones hitting .150 or so was moved from clean up to 8th in the line-up this week on game 19 of 162. thats about 10% of the games. Game 6 of 65 would be real close to 10% of the games. Just a thought........

Cally

[BallCoach06]

I never let my kids see their individual stats during the season. I give them all that information in a stat packet at the end of the season.

However, I do post what we call "Team Player Points". Anyone who has seen Ron Polk's Baseball Playbook will know what I am talking about. Players get points for certain things and we keep track and post those after every game date.

[Ursa Major]

I agree with Jake that freshman ball is about when you start telling kids their stats, although you might not tell the kids every one else's stats.

In our 13/14 year old league, our manager retains possession of the scorebook and shares the stats with us coaches to help us know who needs help. You generally have a pretty good idea what's going on anyway, but in one case we had a strong player who hit the ball hard but was batting .100. The lows BA clued us in to look at his "pretty swings" more closely; it turns out that he was dropping his hands and making a big straight-armed swoopy swing that resulted in a lot of lovely, leisurely fly balls to the outfield. When we got him to "maintain the box" more, the line drives started coming.

Also, we realized that our best BA player had almost no walks. He didn't have all that much power, but he could put in play everything in the strike zone, albeit without much pop. So, we realized that he should take a few strikes that he couldn't do much with (like low pitches), in the hope that he'd get a better pitch he could crush.

[Go Cardinals]

We lost our last game because a couple of hitters cared more about their BA then the team.

[CoachHenry]

I suppose after reading the responses here I don't have a good sense on what good it does for the players to know their stats during the season. I'm alright for the end of the season and such but what would a player change during the season. Of course the coaches can react to the stats and work with a player as needed.

And honestly, I'm asking because I want to know, not because I have a problem with it.

[Jake Patterson]

I suppose after reading the responses here I don't have a good sense on what good it does for the players to know their stats during the season. I'm alright for the end of the season and such but what would a player change during the season. Of course the coaches can react to the stats and work with a player as needed.

And honestly, I'm asking because I want to know, not because I have a problem with it.

What age group do you coach?
Jake