Game Charts - Scouting

you may want to look into the digital scout software. i know the team software creates a "hitting chart" that show how many hits/how many balls hit to that part of the field. but i think they have a system just for scouting. if not, you could use the team and it would compile those 6 or 7 games of stats.

One Eagle, this is an area that I admit my ignorance. We too scout teams. However, we only do so a few times and mostly teams we will meet in our regionals. We note tendencies etc. and get an idea of a player's abilities. However, what is the benefit of a scouting chart/hitting chart when your pitcher isn't pitching and you are not sure who's really calling the pitches. In other words, often it is hard to get that pitch and or intended location accurate if you don't know exactly what the pitch was. For example, you'd have a hard time determining if we threw a cut fastball or slider. When keeping this chart, do you also note the game situations? Finally, do you intend to move your infielders according to the pitch called when you play this opponent?

Of course we note teams that scout us as well.

It's my opinion that most hitters have tendencies; some are dead pull, others go oppo, some spray, some power, some dink, some drag, some steal, etc. etc. The more AB's you observe the more knowledge you will get. This must of course be balanced with the strengths/weaknesses of your pitcher(s).

Here is an email I got from some guy the other day. I have never used any of them but have thought about it.

Coach:
Get 12 Baseball Charts for ONLY $19.99!
Nothing to ever buy again!!!
Other benefits of our Baseball Charts Packet:
Competitors charge up to $40 for individual hitting, pitching, and scouting charts!
No refills to ever order! The charts are yours to make all the copies you want!
The Charts are:
1. Hitting Tendency Chart with key
2. Hitting Tendency Game Chart with key
3. Pitching Chart with Analysis
4. Pitch Pattern Chart
5. Radar Gun Chart with Analysis
6. Opposing Pitcher Baserunning Chart
7. Defensive Alignment Chart
8. Pitching / Defensive Game Plan
9. Hitter AB Evaluation
10. Opponents Bunting Game Scouting Report
11. Opponents Running Game Scouting Report
12. Opponents Pre-Game Defensive Scouting Report
ALL THESE CHARTS FOR ONLY $19.99 WITH NOTHING TO EVER BUY AGAIN!
Standard Amazon.com shipping and handling charges apply.
To view the charts visit us at: http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Charts-Packet-Eli-Herrer.../103-0946142-8292621
Bull Pen Scripts Now Available at: www.baseballchartsonline.com
Please feel free to contact me:

Coach Herrera
Baseball Charts Online
herreraeli@baseballchartsonline.com


Also please don't think that I am trying to sell these or make any money off of them. I got the email and thought I would share it with you guys.

We used a Stenographer's wire top binder book [I don't know exact size, maybe 4" x 8" or smoething like that. We chartedthe hitter's for each team we were going to play again when we played them the first time. Put the batter's name and number at the top of the page and drew a baseball diamond in the middle. Location of each hit or out was charted on the diamond and 1, 2, 3, 4, etc were used to show which at bat went where. On bottom half we had the number of pitches thrown to each batter in each at bat and the result of that pitch.

Example

First At Bt

Pitch Result Comment
FB Strike Swing & Miss late
CB outside swing & miss
FB high single


It was usually kept by a pitcher on the bench. At least the second time we played this team, our pitchers had a plan to attack each hitter.

TW344

Thanks for the responses. I will check out the email website.
As for your question about different pitchers and different hitters and flow charts. We feel like that after charting 25-30 Ab's we will get a tendency of what that hitter is like regardless of the pitchers he faces. We make notes as to how they are retired and what pitches they apear to attack well. We then adjust according to what pitcher we have throwing and we do move our defense accordingly

OneEagle,
I use a chart I developed that may or may not help you but it allows me to easily see what a player has done in multiple at bats. pm me and I can email you a copy if you would like.

There are a lot of good tendency charts out there. Google Baseball hitting chart and baseball pitching chart.

This is what I used to do, FWIW.

I used MS Draw to draw the template of a baseball field. Then I stored it in a MSVFB table as a general field. Then I created a data input form, and put an editable field on it that referenced that field in the table.

Then, when I was entering data for the hitters, I’d just put an “S”, “D”, “T”, “HR”, “F”, “G”, on the picture. I’d do the same thing for the P’s too. What I ended up with was a pictorial representation of every ball put in play.

I have to admit it was certainly something that was pretty helpful at times, but t could certainly have been much more helpful if there were more data points tracked, such as the pitch type, was the P RH or LH, were there runners on, what was the pitch location, etc,,

But to tell the truth, it took so much time, I did it for a couple of years and gave up. With young players literally changing every few months, long term data is pretty useless, and in the short term, betting on tendencies for maybe 5 games is pretty silly.

Heck in the 4 years my son played HS ball, the team we played the most was our league rival. We played them 3 times in each of 2 years, 4 times in another year, and 5 in another. That’s 14 times in 4 years, and in all of that time, there were probably only 2 or 3 players that were in every game.

So at most, we got to see those particular players bat 40-50 times. Is it possible that that’s enough data to show general tendencies? Yes it is. But as has already been noted, depending on who was pitching, who was calling the pitches, and how well those pitches were executed certainly has a tremendous effect on what those batters were doing.

MHO is, its useful data for pro teams, and possibly even for some college programs, but for the HS level and below, I’m thinkin’ a coach could come up with some kind of plan that is just as effective, using something besides a chart.