Does anyone have the ability to see if there was any significant difference in a player’s offensive performance when he was the starting pitcher and hitting, as opposed to just a regular position player. The reason I ask is, I’m wondering if it might not be a better strategy to let the pitcher just concentrate on pitching rather than having him hitting and possible running the bases too.
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A pitchers ability to hit may diminish at the high school level and below. But he may still be one of the nine best hitting options for the lineup. It works the other way as well. Running the bases may affect the pitcher on the mound.
If you've got 9 hitters equal to the pitcher I agree however many pitchers in high school are some of the better hitters on their team.
Originally Posted by throw'n bb's:
If you've got 9 hitters equal to the pitcher I agree however many pitchers in high school are some of the better hitters on their team.
I understand that, but I’m asking if anyone has any kind of data that would show the offensive performance doesn’t suffer to the point of where it would be better to have one of the “lesser” hitters in the lineup. After all, since hitting in games is so important to a hitter’s development, it may be that those additional ABs would trigger something in a hitter that’s on-the-bubble to earn him a regular spot in the lineup.
This boarders on the old question, “Is a great player playing at 80% because of injury better than a substitute playing at 100%?”
My son was a two way in HS for four years and while I do not have the detailed statistics from each of these games (he typically was a starter 1 day a week out of the 3 games) he always led the team statistically hitting in every year he played.
In college his team does not have pitchers hit. He also prefers to not hit when he is pitching at the college level as it allows him to focus more.
At the HS level at least, I don't recall any differences in performance but I don't have the detailed stats so it is purely subjective.
I'm a math guy. Love statistics. This may be a time though when too many variables. Level of competition, day vs night, bad day vs good day, temperature, batter hits better vs certain pitchers or vice versa, errors, umpires judgments, etc, etc
I'm probably in the group as to "is the pitcher one of the best nine batters?" If so, start him. Or does he add enough batting wise to, in coach's opinion, compensate for possible lack of pitching production.
My son has always been a good hitter and wants to bat especially when he's pitching.
