Offense Doesn't Matter

Wait a minute! You're on the east coast and John Savage is on the West Coast. How'd you run into him?

No surprise that pitching is first and up the middle defense is second. That's what baseball was for all of it's history except the last 15-20 years.

Hitting for power will still be the most valuable skill on the offensive side and it will go up in value since there is likely to be less of it than there was.

interesting---when we put our team together we look for defense and speed first

IMO a good team has all the pieces.

Not surprised here. I think defense has always been highly valued in up-the-middle players, with many coaches moreso than offense (though obviously, if you can get offense in those positions...).

We're dealing with generalities here, though, and decisions on which players to offer always involve some peer-to-peer comparison. It is harder to get reliable data in college than it is in the pros (and how to measure things like "run saved" and "run produced"), but I believe that - same as in the pros - a run saved by defense is the same as a run produced on offense. There may be more guesstimating going on with recruited players, but figuring out how much defense you might be getting with the "defense first" kid (and how good/inept he is offensively, relative to the guy he's competing with) versus how much offense you might be getting with the "offense first" kid (and how far behind he is defensively, relative to the other guy) is really what is going on. While each coach's exact +/- might be a little different, for EVERYBODY there comes a point where you take one over the other, depending on how you answer those questions regarding relative comparisons.

With the emergence of the new bats , I tried the whole defsenive fleas on the base paths etc etc. Wasn't fun whatsoever and more frustrating than anything.

Power Pitching. Power Hitting. Station to Staion bunt em up get em over get em in .

Most D1 colleges will not recruit a position player that doesn't project to hit in college. A college player hitting in the low 200's will always be looking over his shoulder.

Hitting will always matter. But with the huge drop in homers in college ball speed matters more than it did in the past.

Ask the 2011 Phillies if hitting matters. Roy Hallady pitches are great game but the Phils couldn't get a clutch hit. Chris Carpenter pitched a great game, the Cares got a key hit that game and won. The Cardinals (Freese) got a lot of clutch hits the entire playoffs, that's why they won the WS.

They both matter.

Who is this coach going to recruit first, the kid who plays great defense. is very fast, and doesn't hit a lick, or the kid who plays great defense, is very fast, and can hit really well?

quote:

Originally posted by CollegeParentNoMore:
Most D1 colleges will not recruit a position player that doesn't project to hit in college. A college player hitting in the low 200's will always be looking over his shoulder.

I agree. Defense and speed mean a lot... if you can hit imho.

If you can't hit but have some good pitchers and decent fielding, you end up with last years Seattle Mariners and look where they ended up.

Clevelanddad....that about sums it up. I totally agree.