Another "Be A Good Parent" Story

These parents get caught up in the moment, and in all honesty don't understand the game. A couple controversial hit vs error calls over a season of play doesn't amount to much of anything. Good hitters are still good hitters.

On a second note (especially in youth sports) I actually believe ROE is an important stat to track. From my experience, these tend to be kids with a more athletic build, that continue to improve/project over time. These kids are usually a blend of power and speed.  jm2c..... 

As a non-official Gamechanger guy, if it's questionable I go to the coaches and get their assessment.  So it's not on me.  But back to the op, the coach cannot be wavering here.  Be assertive and nip it in the bud.  Lay down a protocol on how to deal with it, but it better not be during or just after a game (if I'm the coach). 

@cabbagedad posted:

For context, the HC has a team of three qualified people that contribute with any scoring calls that may be open to interpretation.  This is clearly not a scenario where a rogue, spiteful or stupid person is left on their own to score the game.  Under normal circumstances, the coach would have most likely set expectations for parent behavior/participation in parent meetings at the beginning of the season but Covid presented limitations.

...........................

Every year that goes by, my youngest son's high school coach looks more and more like a genius.   He had a retired scorekeeper (who knew the game inside and out) that did not have a player on the team.  The Coach had a "here are my expectations of parents meeting" before the seasons started.   He treated his players like grown ups (like a college program) and they were expected to execute when called upon.   And if you crossed him, may God have mercy on your soul.   If there was any parental chirping, it was not done at the ball field.   His reputation preceded him, and I doubt he would have had any trouble with Covid limitations getting his message across.  He was gruff but fair.

Some of you old timers remember my story about a neighbor dressed in army camouflage (head to toe) that setup a tree stand to watch his son's high school baseball tryouts.  The High School Coach forbid parents from attending his tryouts.   This is that High School Coach, and he was awesome!  He did his job and assumed parents were doing theirs.

Wait....these parents actually think HS hitting stats on GC are going to make a difference in their kids baseball/softball careers???

LOL!!!

@fly996 posted:

Wait....these parents actually think HS hitting stats on GC are going to make a difference in their kids baseball/softball careers???

LOL!!!

I guess that one hit or ROE will determine their fate.   

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

You have no idea man. One told me last week that the stats matter because the only way coaches can keep up with kids right now is based on the Maxpreps stats.

Wow, talk about out of touch....

A running joke behind the backstop at my kid's HS games was how the son's of boosters always got the "Hard Hit Ball" designation, even on weak ground outs.

@K9 posted:

A running joke behind the backstop at my kid's HS games was how the son's of boosters always got the "Hard Hit Ball" designation, even on weak ground outs.

GameChanger QAB participation trophy

The answer.  Do not make the scoring software available to the public, which includes players or parents.  Use twitter or some other social media to keep those not at the game up to date with the game flow.  Parents cannot get a copy of the stats until after the season and awards night is over by request only.  If they need to give a coach stats, then they can keep their own and give them what they need or the coach can contact HS HC who will provide them confidentially to the coach.  Players and parents don't need the team stats during the season.  Stops a bunch of problems.  I would invest in good camera and do live stream for those who can't be there and do twitter updates but never post stats during the season.  The problem with posting stats during the season is it makes scouting other teams really easy.  Just put those stats and spray charts out there so that everybody can know who hits what and where.

I think it will probably just keep getting worse. In FL there is an independent site that tracks all that stuff and does power rankings of the teams. It's actually a pretty cool site, but the kids are always on it checking their stats and who the county leaders are.

@TerribleBPthrower posted:

I think it will probably just keep getting worse. In FL there is an independent site that tracks all that stuff and does power rankings of the teams. It's actually a pretty cool site, but the kids are always on it checking their stats and who the county leaders are.

They should realize that the HS hitting stats are relatively meaningless due the the wide variety of competition levels and spotty pitching quality.... example, my son pitched in a HS game last night due to necessity....he never practices pitching and he's only pitched in a game once to twice up to now in his entire baseball career...LOL!!!

a couple of errors changed to hits->better stats on GC->better stats on Maxpreps -> gets a couple more votes for all league -> gets on the radar for a PBR invite event ->P5 instead of low D3?

i haven't actually heard anyone go down this logic chain but i can certainly see some of the parents around here thinking it through like this

Meanwhile the pitcher moms..."that was TOTALLY an error!!!" Unearned runs baby

When my son was a high school soph I kept score, maintained the website, the stats and wrote the first draft of the game story for the coach. The box score and updated stats would be posted by 9pm. Almost every game I received phone calls or emails questioning scoring after 9pm. I wasn’t changing anything. These parents would chase down the coach.

I quit after one year. A dad known for padding his kid’s stats back to LL took over. Wow! Did his kid improve his hitting without looking any better at the plate.

@LousyLefty posted:

Meanwhile the pitcher moms..."that was TOTALLY an error!!!" Unearned runs baby

I told the parents, if you want more hits for our hitters, then I'm going to provide the same generosity for the pitchers. If it is close it is an error.

@LousyLefty posted:

Meanwhile the pitcher moms..."that was TOTALLY an error!!!" Unearned runs baby

Yeah, Senior with a 1.99 era that throws low 80's....why am I not getting any love???

We have a junior that topped out at 76 last week. His ERA is under .50. I think someone mentioned the level of competition earlier....

I just want to say that while of course I (now) understand that such stats have no role in college recruiting, before I was even thinking about college recruiting, I was aware of all-area team awards, and stats did seem to play a role in those.  Our newspaper published box scores of HS games, and season stats.  I get why stats do seem to matter, and mistakes are annoying.  Just throwing that out there.

These same parents are stalking their kids teachers trying to turn a B into an A.  It won't be long before they are calling their adult children's bosses to talk about that paltry raise their superstar got.

@Smitty28 posted:

These same parents are stalking their kids teachers trying to turn a B into an A.  It won't be long before they are calling their adult children's bosses to talk about that paltry raise their superstar got.

According to the WSJ it’s already occurring.

Frequent GC scorer and pitcher parent here. I try to sit next to someone who I respect and who knows the game - can be another parent, a grandparent, or just a group of dads who are hanging out. Then, when in doubt, I ask them what they thought - hit or error.

I've also found it useful to pay closer attention to MLB scoring. Over the years I've moved away from ROEs to more hits and have learned more about FCs.

I was the official scorekeeper for my son's American Legion Team for 6-7 years. I had an Excel program and would update the coaches after each game (or weekend). My son didn't know his stats until the end of the year (though I think he kept track of SBs and errors).

On any decision that I was even remotely unsure of I would ask the 1B/bench coach for his "call." They were appreciative to have a knowledgeable person (not just a partly-attentive bench player) keep pitch counts. I would also show the box score with the highlights to the mgr before he left the field. I would do this before I submitted to the local paper. Because I wasn't I decider in the calls, I did enjoy the score keeping, and it gave a  math teacher something to do in the summer which would keep his mind  working with numbers.

Baseball has always counted everything so it’s easy to see how players and parents get caught up in statistical performance. What most people never understand is, in terms of potential to play in college, it’s more important how those stats are produced. Only in baseball can a pitcher be effective when he is so bad that it’s a difficult adjustment to hit him. You never see that in other sports. You never see a football running back that’s so slow afoot that you can’t tackle him. In HS baseball stat padding has reached epidemic proportions and as a result college coaches don’t give much weight to HS stats. I scouted a ‘22 HS SS last night that plays in a proven 6A program. He was 0-2 and made a throwing error in the part of the game I saw. But I have recommended him. Why? Because he has a strong arm, his footwork is good, he understands how to play the game, he had good body language & positive energy, the error didn’t affect his play afterwards, etc. I also took video of the two at bats and looked at the mechanics of his swing - which was very solid and suggests he can hit next level pitching. It also helps that the kid was recommended to me by his private hitting instructor, who is a guy that I trust. And it doesn’t hurt that his dad played for TCU. So, I have just described what led up to this particular kid getting recruited to play in the most competitive JuCo conference in America. Network word of mouth -  confirmed with watching in game performance. Notice I didn’t mention a player ranking, a showcase, or any metrics.

One summer I made the "mistake" of setting up my chair along the fence on the 1st base side, around the on deck circle.  It turns out that was where my son's travel coach paced when he was calling pitches.  He asked me if I'd mind keeping the score book that day since one of his assistants wasn't there, I said sure.  I thought I was doing fine until the second time through the line up he said "this guy hit a grounder in the 5 hole last time, right?"... "Yup" I said,  feeling good that I was doing my job.  Then he responded "that was a curve ball right?  On a 1-2 count?"  And I'm like "I need to get a little better at this real quick".

I completely understand the parents concerned about correct stats that are public but not for the same reasons mentioned above.  

In our neck of the woods the local TV station, the daily paper, and an independent online site devoted to local sports generally do a great job.  Sometimes, though, when a kid pinch hits for a starter,  the starter returns to the game defensively .  The writers and announcers miss the re-entry and, if the re-entered starter makes a great game-changing play, they'll give credit to a kid who's actually on the bench.  Not a big deal in a broadcast cuz those guys usually catch it and have time to correct it. But if a writer misses the re-entry and their game story gives credit to the wrong kid that's kind of permanent.  That can be exasperating, not because any future coach will read the write up, but because Grandma and Grandpa will.

Re: Gamechanger issues, I've been scoring all three of my kids' games for the past 10 years.  Even though I played baseball if there's a marginal play of some kind I'll make sure to ask another parent with experience if my judgement is accurate.  Still,  I'll usually make a decision that favors our team's kid. Problems can arise, though, when other parents on the team are also doing Gamechanger but don't have a lot of baseball experience.  Some parents follow both (or even more) scorers and sometimes there's disagreement on a play. If my scoring is harder on a kid, even though I think I'm right, I'll just change it to match the other scorekeepers.

The one area I am strict about is when kids make errors on catchable foul pop-ups. Recording a foul pop-up error on Gamechanger is not intuitive (though once you know the sequence it does make sense) and many scorekeepers don't know how to do it. I agree that it's definitely simpler to just enter foul ball. But if the batter then hits a bases-loaded double with two outs and knocks in three runs I'm gonna make sure that dropped pop-up is recorded as error.  I was a pitcher and I gave up enough accurately recorded earned runs as it was.  I didn't need a stratospheric ERA, when I already had a tropospheric one.

In high school a parent hassled me every time he saw me all season at games and at 7-11. His son was camped under a foul pop. He dropped it. It was his only error all season. The father hassled me a foul ball can’t be an error because no one reached base.

it prolonged the at bat. It’s an error.

Ahhh, patience, young Grasshopper....

-Tap Ball In Play

-Tap Pop Fly

-Scroll down and tap Foul Ball + Error

Batter's interference is also on that last screen

Now, go forth and score (any way you wish )

@smokeminside posted:

Ahhh, patience, young Grasshopper....

-Tap Ball In Play

-Tap Pop Fly

-Scroll down and tap Foul Ball + Error

Batter's interference is also on that last screen

Now, go forth and score (any way you wish )

Hah! Never knew that was there. How tough are you with it? I see catchers miss some tough ones up  against a fence and I see some miss some easy ones right on the plate

If The play is normally routine for the age group but the ball is dropped then it’s an error. I think that’s easier to determine errors on pop ups with the 1st and 3rd baseman than it is with the catcher.  I think it’s amazing catchers can even make that play.

I can’t wait to never do GC again. I figure a minimum of 2 games and at most 5. Not sure how it will be done next year. One parent suggested everyone chipping in $20 and hiring someone to do it