cabbagedad posted:2022 grad posted:...what tools are the most important vs least important? With what little experience we have thus far, hitting for average is not a big one, hitting for power and throwing speed seem to be weighted heavy. What do others think?Actually, for a speed guy, the ability to get on base (assuming he learns how to master the use of his speed) will be the most important. His focus for this particular tool will just be to become a good hitter against college level pitching with a good eye, good pitch selection and the ability to get the barrel on the ball. This will result in putting the ball firmly in play regularly and limiting K's. Walks will, in turn, take care of themselves and his speed will help maximize turning those balls in play into hits. Power is less important here because he can turn singles into doubles by stealing second and otherwise disrupting opposing pitchers. A speed guy with true gap power is double bonus.
The focus SHOULD NOT at all be to work for walks as part of an OBP strategy. This will backfire more often than not against decent college pitching. It doesn't take long for scouting reports to catch up to that and the hitter will find himself behind in counts and struggling sooner than later.
He will need to be effective at preventing extra bases taken defensively, so the routes, glove and arm need to be decent - sounds like he is well on his way there.
Some (not most) college coaches will persuade a speed guy to hit the ball on the ground. This is something to investigate when the time comes as this is just a minor adjustment for some hitters but can be a very difficult one for others.
Btw regarding hitting on the ground make sure you don't smash the ball into the ground. It is ok for faster, smaller hitters to have a little lower launch angle but still it should be aiming for low liners maybe leaning a bit more towards grounders than fly balls. That low liner/GB approach like lemahieu does creates high babips but smashing the ball into the ground 10 feet in front of home is very bad.
So while I'm more of a launch angle guy I can understand coaches who want to eliminate flyballs above 25 degrees for weaker hitters (hitters in mlb hit like .120 on balls above 25 degrees that are not homers) but also make sure you don't slap the ball into the ground, the goal still should be low liners and deep one hop grounders, not choppers.
Best is of course if you drive the ball hard in the air and if you do that even old school coaches will leave you alone, the guys who get told to hit grounders are guys who hit weak sliced 200 foot fly balls.