Hello again HS Baseball Web Community,
Recently a student of mine told me he was stressed about going 1 for 5 in the first two games of the year. He’s a great ballplayer, a freshmen starting on Varsity, and it scared me to see that all his talent could easily be wasted if he doesn’t learn to forget about his batting average and learn to play the game the right way.
I asked him how he made the 4 outs and he said 2 ground balls, 1 K and a line drive out to centerfield.
I looked at him and said “first of all major leaguers get over 500 at bats a season and you’re freaking out after 5. You can’t judge a baseball player by his success in 1 or 2 games, only after the course of an entire season.
Secondly, your 2 for 5 and hitting .400 in my book, if you don’t count that line drive out as a successful at bat, this game is going to eat you alive. Here’s how I recommend you keep your stats this year, it will set you up for a stress free, and productive season...”
Keeping Your “Q-Stat”
Unlike the batting average, where you only get rewarded for a “hit”, and the OB% where you only get rewarded for hits, walks and HBP’s, there are 11 possible ways to get a “Q”, they are…
1. Get the old fashioned "Hit". (dinkers to home runs)
2. Walk
3. Get Hit by Pitch
4. Make a hard out. * Note: you have to be honest with yourself, decently hit routine ground balls to short don’t count. Neither do high fly balls.
5. Lay down a successful sacrifice bunt.
6. Hit a successful sac fly.
7. Score a run from third base with a groundball out.
8. Hit a successful "hit and run"
9. Move the runner from second to third with 0 outs, with a groundball out to second base or deep fly ball that runner tags on.
10. Lay down a successful squeeze bunt and you make out.
11. And finally, even though I do not 100% agree with this one. A 10+ pitch strike out.
Obviously the “Q-Stat” is going to be higher than regular batting averages. But this number is a much better representation of how a player is contributing to the team.
Batting averages are selfish.
“Q-Stats” teach each player to play the game the right way, and they are rewarded for it.
To keep the “Q-Stat” for your son or for your team, simply use the same scorebook you already have. When any of the 11 ways to get a Q comes up, you simply mark a “Q” in the box along with the regular scoring of the play. Then when you calculate the stats all you have to do is add up hits and “Q’s” divide them by total plate appearances and you have yourself a “Q-Stat”. You will also be able to figure out standard batting averages and OB%s as well. Only use them to see how the Q-Stat is directly correlated with BA’s and OB%s.
When I hear the quote “get a hit 3 out of 10 times and you’ll make it into the Hall of Fame”, I think to myself yeah well your “Q-Stat” has to be well over .500.
I kept my own “Q-Stat” from my sophomore year of college through my final day at spring training. It helped me put up bigger numbers than I would have if I was worried about my batting average alone.
Since it’s the start of a new season I wanted to share this advice now. I figure if even one player reads this, applies it and has a successful season because of it, then writing this article was well worth my time.
Sincerely,
Ricky Caputo
Original Post
