Got to thinkin’ ‘bout the title to this thread and some of the things that have been discussed, and I thought I’d see if I could help CoachZ sort through the maze of POSSILBE stats available during a game the coach might want to see. To me, the 1st step in such a process should be differentiating between truly useful stats, or stats that could help make decisions because of their proven efficacy, and stats that are interesting but really don’t offer a lot in the way of help.
I tried to come up with a list of things coaches I know personally like to look at. Some may seem trite, but if you’ve ever been to game where there’s no working scoreboard, you’ll understand.
Score
Inning
Number of outs
Count
Hitter’s batting position
Pitch count
Pitch count for the current inning
The 1st 4 seem silly, but like I said, if there’s no working scoreboard, the ump and the scorers are getting asked what those things are a lot.
Hitter’s BPOS is something a coach whose team is on defense wants to know, the theory being, the lower in the order, the less dangerous the hitter. I suppose that’s true to some degree, but in HS, I’d sure be careful about pitching players a certain way based on the BPOS they occupied. However, whoever’s calling pitches should definitely know whether the batter is the # 3 hitter or the # 8.
Pitch count is one of those things that could mean a lot depending on what the coach’s perspective is and what he’s thinking about. But for sure it’s importance in the modern game has increased.
Pitch count for the current inning is almost entirely a defensive concern, but is a definite concern.
If anyone knows of other things that are generally useful to all/most coaches, please list them.
Now comes the more difficult task of listing things that are interesting or nice to know, but their worth as counting on to make decisions is at least questionable.
Strike percentage
1st pitch strike percentage
Strike percentage is something I find very interesting, but unless it’s really way out of whack, I don’t think worrying about it for one game is worthwhile. When I say way out of whack, I mean something like 10-15% lower than normal, but it should be up to each coach to make that determination for himself. In order to know that, one would also need to know what was normal for that pitcher. That’s not all too difficult to have at hand, but there would have to be some way to have a running calculation.
1st pitch strike percentage is something else again. There’s little doubt how much of an advantage it is for pitchers to get ahead in the count, but IMHO there’s a big difference between 1st pitch strike percentage and 1st pitch strike percentage not counting BIPs. Having both would give a better picture.
There are plenty of other things that could help, but for right now those I listed should get the ol’ brain thinkin’.