My 2018 has never hit a home run. How important is that? As a freshman, his batting average was .667. He rarely strikes out, walks a lot, gets a hit or thrown out at first. In a recent game he got on base in two out of three At bats, third was thrown out at first.
Should I care about the home run?
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Son has played with lots of talented players through HS. Not a lot of HR hitters. I think more rare than a 90mph arm. Baseball people say power is last to come for a hitter.
Get in the gym. Work hard and get stronger. It will make him a better hitter that I have no doubt. Will he hit for power not sure anyone knows definitively.
Huge variable is the size of the high school field -- I've seen fields that are 280' down the line and others that are 330'. On the bigger fields there are not a lot of home runs.
Depends but it I do think it is one of the few HS stats that matter. One thing that coaches have continued to inquire about are power numbers for my son....of course he is a left hand middle of the lineup hitter.
What's important is the good backspin off the barrel.
Solid mechanics and gap to gap power (up the gaps) is what most coaches are looking for. If a high school player is driving the ball up the gaps chances are he will get bigger and stronger and hit the ball further.
2019Dad posted:Huge variable is the size of the high school field -- I've seen fields that are 280' down the line and others that are 330'. On the bigger fields there are not a lot of home runs.
A kid in our league played on a high school field that was 360 to center. At my son's field it was 405 to center and 370 in the gaps. Who do you think hit more homers?
Iowamom23 posted:My 2018 has never hit a home run. How important is that? As a freshman, his batting average was .667. He rarely strikes out, walks a lot, gets a hit or thrown out at first. In a recent game he got on base in two out of three At bats, third was thrown out at first.
Should I care about the home run?
How many doubles? To me, that tells you more about how he hits than average or home runs. Doubles have to be hit over the outfielder's head or line drive into the gaps. Even the slowest player can leg out a good double. And a double works -- "ebry tyne." 
Agree with RJM and Golfman. My son hit 27 doubles his sophomore year at a JuCo (broke the school record and was 2nd nationally among D2 JuCo players). That stat got him noticed by a D2 university.
During his HS career he only hit 2 HR's. In his college career he had 2 HR's his freshman year, none his sophomore year and 6 HR's and 12 doubles his 3rd college season. His ability to drive the ball in the gap is what the coaches really liked.
Power is important, but so are the other tools.
IMO, they are important if you're a power hitter.
hshuler posted:IMO, they are important if you're a power hitter.
When discussing projectability of a high school player (the original post) gap power is power. If you see a high school kid driving the ball up the gaps who looks like he could easily add twenty pounds of muscle you're seeing home run potential.
RJM posted:hshuler posted:IMO, they are important if you're a power hitter.
When discussing projectability of a high school player (the original post) gap power is power. If you see a high school kid driving the ball up the gaps who looks like he could easily add twenty pounds of muscle you're seeing home run potential.
I agree. There are of course guys like Bryce Harper who hit moonshots at age 15 but those are really rare. If you hit some doubles and maybe one or two out per year that is good power with bbcor for a HS kid.
In the era of BBCOR bats, hitting styles and approaches are different. Although the recent change to the baseballs have dramatically increased home runs. The main things college coaches are looking at are bat speed, staying on plane with the ball, batting average, gap to gap power, and an ability to hit deep in the count. HRs are a good stat, but there are so many factors in play that others have talked about. Size of a field, short porches, short on one side of the field, wind heavy fields, and fields up in elevation. We have one local team that has hit 20 HRs as a team this year, yet lose every other game . Hmmm, lazy flies on a real field, or HRs on a windy small field? I would say the best thing is work on bat speed, do not "get long" on your swing, quality at bats, and just have the "it" as a hitter. Hitter with a purpose, will find a home.
When evaluating power, current not projected, it's more about things like bat speed, strength, back spin, and distance than it is the actual number of home runs.
We see many HS players every year and especially last year, that have very good raw power. Kids that have the ability to easily hammer the ball out of Major League Stadiums. When I say many, it's still rare when taking all players into account. Kind of like kids that throw over 90 mph, there are a lot that can do it, but overall it's still rare.
So you have current raw power (ability to hit the ball a long ways) and current power (ability to hit the ball a long ways frequently). Then you have developing power or power projection (Often these are referred to as having gap power). Though it could be said that everyone has power potential, not that many ever develop it. So you end up with a big number that lack power.
None of the above, by itself, will guarantee or eliminate great success. Most every player, even those in the Big Leagues, lacks one or two tools. But power is heavily considered by most every evaluator. The home run helps win a lot of games.
PG knows more than I do, and what he says rings true to me.
Playing baseball at the next level is firstly (though not exclusively) about tools. High school stats, plays, and accolades matter little or not at all.
I have one son who throws 90+ mph. Throwing velocity is a tool. He hasn't homered since he was 12. He's a D1 player. His team had 5 players hit home runs this year on a 35 man roster.
I have another son who runs the 60 in <6.7 seconds. Running speed is a tool. He hasn't homered since freshman year of high school. But he will play at a D3. His future college team had 5 players hit a home run this year out of a 32 man roster.
College coaches, pro scouts, talent evaluators (like PG), et.al., will assess a player's tools and using their experience will assess a player's ability to compete at the next level. Do they envision a player competing in college or professionally?
Parents (me included) and players often look at stats, accolades, or the outcomes of individual plays and wonder or conclude that the player can play or won't play at the next level. It really has nothing to do with that.
Presuming the question is about whether home runs matter for all or even most players to get to the "next" level. The answer is no to play at some level in college. The answer is no for pitchers. The answer is probably yes for most professional and top tier D1 position players. As PG states, power is a tool and "is heavily considered by most every evaluator".
I would think it might matter if your kid is a 6' 4" / 250 lb first baseman who runs a 8.15 40. Other than that...
Travis Brown, back up catcher for the Giants, hit 1 homerun in HS.
RJM posted:hshuler posted:IMO, they are important if you're a power hitter.
When discussing projectability of a high school player (the original post) gap power is power. If you see a high school kid driving the ball up the gaps who looks like he could easily add twenty pounds of muscle you're seeing home run potential.
Agreed!
I believe current Giants 3rd baseman Matt Duffy, who hit 12 last year, didn't hit any in college.
