CoachZ,
I know it will be a PITA, but I’m gonna quote the stuff I’m responding to keep any confusion to a minimum.
…The point is, things were taking too long and i cant help but think its worth exploring other ways of doing things.
It’s ALWAYS worth exploring options.
I anticipate having a lot more kids try out this year, and think that this might be a good role for a couple kids who might otherwise get cut or ride the pine a lot for instance.
It really doesn’t matter who keeps the book, but I very strongly suggest not having the book kept in the dugout. Judging by the attachment, you’re not concerned with pitch locations and types, so charting pitches/ABs in the dugout shouldn’t be a big deal. The only reason I suggested the scorer and person charting sit together and as close to behind the PU as possible is, I know how much focus it takes to keep a good book, and kids don’t very often keep that focus. So, it just makes it easier on everyone if someone can lose focus but have a backup to help them.
and I agree about preparing my scorers. It was my first year coaching. I wasn't so sure what I was up against. My managers were not willing to attend practices regularly to work on these things, and I certainly did not do enough to prepare them. I will take full ownership of that mistake. Lesson learned, and thats why I'm on the boards here asking questions now. …
Live and learn.
… I guess stat tracking is probably not the best term for what I'm trying to do here. I'm really trying to get my kids to look at other aspects of the game than their stats. Maybe "pitch charting" or "at bat charting" is a better term.
Again, this is just my opinion, understanding my perspective. I don’t have a problem with players knowing their stats, providing they understand what those stats mean. The numbers explain the game and give insights into what takes place so the manager can manage what’s going on.
I agree, for stat calculations, looking through the book is fine for most things. My main concern is having a secondary source of tracking the game and live pitching practice situations, etc. something i can grab and look at when i need to without bothering the official scorer. as well as keeping track of a few other things that are not in the book. for instance, in the book, in the boxes for balls and strikes, i have the scorer write a number for each pitch, so i can see the sequence of balls and strikes in the at bat. This other chart would include whether the strikes were swinging or looking, as well as fouls.
You’ve encouraged me to get back into a project I’d given up on some years back. I’ll tinker with it and get back to you on it.
So say i have a timid kid at practice pre season watching a lot of strikes. I start tracking this at practice and talk to him about fighting back and being aggressive with 2 strikes and such. We start to track these things and set goals for growth. Now, in a game when this kid strikes out, I can later say "hey, look, you fought hard and fouled a few off with 2 strikes on you and went down swinging. Your showing growth in this aspect of your playing. atta boy." And I have concrete evidence on paper to show him his growth over the weeks.
We all know baseball is a game of failure and there are some successes like this that happen in the game and are not shown in the book. In my experience (which is not exactly vast) some kids get very caught up in certain stats. They can get very discouraged when they set themselves a personal (and uncontrollable) goal of "getting on base 2 times" and then not reaching it. I want to be able to come back to that kid and say "hey, You fouled off X amount of good pitches, didnt take many strikes, you hit the ball hard but right at someone, and flew out deep in the outfield 3 times. thats good hitting. the goal you set was uncontrollable, but the goal I set for you, your improving on. Keep doing what your doing and it'll work out." For some kids, saying it isnt enough, they think your just being nice. Some need to see it on paper for it to click with them. I want to really get into the whole Steve Springer style of setting attainable goals and be able to track some of these other aspects of the game in games and practice for my kids. Let me know if you think i might be going about this the wrong way or something.
That’s a heap o’info in those paragraphs! I’m going to save your post and hopefully I’ll be able to get back to it soon and address many of the different aspects of it.
And yes, whether or not it matters what a kid did in his last at bat, we could talk about that all day I'm sure. But i think its worth being able to quickly recall this if you feel necessary without bothering the official scorer. I like the idea of having a scorers booth and keeping them in their own little bubble. I think it would not only make it easier for my kids, but give them more of a sense of pride in the job. Charting pitch location... I really am not sure we would be able to do that. could get really tricky. I would love to though! id love to keep a stat of swinging at balls:swinging at strikes but thats just not realistic for us at this time.
I love your enthusiasm! I encourage you to keep thinking and putting your thoughts on paper because it will be easier to use them to plan what to do next.
I'm attaching a rough draft of a chart I'm working on as an example. I would use one each for my hitters and for the other team. I think i may be including too much on here. I need to really sit down and decide what exactly are the things that I:
1. need on the fly in the game
2. cannot normally get in the book
3. can have someone realistically chart in real time
4. need for charting players growth and set goals
I think this chart i have now probably has too much on it and i could condense it and leave some other things for the book. Let me know what you all think. Am I looking at this the wrong way entirely? does my idea just need to be refined a bit? should I just focus on really teaching 1 person to keep the book well and can this thing altogether? I can take criticism very well, as long as its constructive. Thanks again everyone.
One suggestion. I don’t know what software you used to make that attachment, but let’s say you made it in the new WORD. Change the name to “In game- batting chart pages.docx. When you wiped out the type of file it is, it makes it difficult for others to get it open.
You’re finding out how difficult it is to go outside the envelope. 
But don’t let that worry you! Making it better will never stop because you’ll always think of something else that will make it better. IOW, I think you’re looking at it just fine, and the more you think about it and use it, it will almost refine itself.
Personally, I like the idea of having more than 1 person who can keep score. That way if someone has to miss a game for some reason or need to hit the head or go home, there would always at least be someone scoring. Of course it’s only my opinion that the book is always the most important job of the two.