I’m really happy you didn’t take what I said as any kind of insult or challenge, because it truly wasn’t. NORMALLY, when people get to talking about stats, they get pretty cavalier, and no one thinks a lot about using hyperbole to help make a point. Heck! I do it too, but usually I do it realizing what I’m doing.
When it comes to WHIP, if we compared my kid’s to yours, to many folks mine would look like a whimpering sissy, with a mere 1.28 in 162.67 varsity innings over a bit more than 2 seasons. But to those of us who look a bit beyond the numbers, all we’d see were 2 HS pitchers who were very likely the horses on their respective staffs, and not think all that much more about it because we know very little else about their situations.
I won’t even bother to tell you what the difference was in his WHIP between when he threw in wood bat venues and others. He was pitching when drop 5 Titanuims were the rage in HS, and there weren’t any limits on bats in tournaments, so when he and other good pitchers got to throw against wood, it was like night and day.
And sadly that happens a lot. Folks will see a player with 25 HRs and think WOW, that kid is a monster, but not realize he’s either a greyhound and plays on fields where there are no fences, or on fields with “bandbox” dimensions against weal competition. In the end, that’s why I’m not a big fan of trying to compare players using their stats, much outside of their respective leagues, or folks asking what a good … is.