Are your hitters making good decisions at the plate?
Ted Williams said that the biggest key to his success as a hitter was, “getting a good ball to hit.” But in this world, where the majority of hitters are being bombarded with result oriented batted ball data, “getting a good ball to hit” has become almost forgotten. Teaching “approach” is old school—likely because there is very little data available to support what making a good decision is outside of professional baseball and power five schools.
Tracking decision making in an environment that lacks high-end technology formerly came down to someone tracking location with paper and pencil and transferring that data into Excel. Or if you are lucky, you may have access to someone who can write code, in which case you could create an equally confusing system that will be tough for your coaches to input the data and maybe even harder for hitters to get the simple and quick feedback. That said, what in-game data paints the decision making picture for hitters?
As a college hitting coach, I want to know the following based on IN GAME data:
· What are our guys hitting hard? Counts? Left? Right? Pitch types? Locations? Against “good” velocity?
· What are we not hitting hard? Counts? Left? Right? Pitch types? Locations? Against “good” velocity?
· What are we chasing? Counts? Left? Right? Pitch types? Locations? Against “good” velocity?
· Are situations—man on third base with the infield in for example—determining our decisions to swing at certain pitches?
HARD HIT BALL DATA SHOULD INFLUENCE DECISION MAKING
This might be the most important data feature on Hitting Approach’s cloud. With this feature, I can show our hitters exactly what pitches, counts, velocities, and zones, they hit the ball the hardest. I had hunches before we began HA that certain players hammered fastballs on the inner-half, or hit breaking balls out over the plate well, or got jammed up and in, or hit RHP’s hard down and away, but struggled with left-handed sinking fastballs. But without real data, it was hard to really know. And if I really didn’t know, there were many instances that I shied away from telling hitters for fear I was giving them bad information. Now I KNOW what zones, pitch types, counts, and situations they hit balls the hardest, which allows us to work swinging at pitches they hit well and taking the ones they don’t in practice. Or on the flip side, we can figure out why they don’t hit certain pitches well, while others they do.
Hard hit ball data from a D2 player on all pitches in all counts.
WHIFF DATA INFLUENCES DECISION MAKING
Whiff data simply shows what pitches, zones, counts, and situations that a hitter swings and misses. Trends develop quickly for hitters. Do they struggle with velocity up in the zone? Right on right or left on left sliders just off the plate? Curveballs that finish just below the zone? Are they more likely to swing and miss early in the count because they may be trying to do “too much?” Do they chase and swing and miss more 1-2 or 3-2? Whiff data obviously exposes a hitter’s weaknesses. The tricky part is figuring out why a hitter is swinging and missing on certain pitches.
Whiff data from a D2 player on all pitches and counts.
TAKE DATA INFLUENCES DECISION MAKING
The difference between a hitter being over-aggressive and too passive is a fine line. We want to know if our hitters taking pitches in leverage counts that they should hit (see hard hit ball data) or swinging at pitches they should not in leverage counts? Are they more likely to take a 3-2 fastball on the plate, while chasing a 3-2 breaking ball? Take data is deceivingly important when it comes to determining the right aggression level for each hitter. Determining what a hitter hits hard, and what he doesn’t will enable you as a hitting coach to help him take certain pitches at practice—or in a virtual reality setting.
Take data on a D2 player on fastballs in a 2-0 count.
SITUATIONAL HITTING INFLUENCES DECISION MAKING
Blog #2 covers building a data influenced approach to situational hitting, but the answer to my question above— Are situations determining our decisions to swing at certain pitches? Is typically yes. Determining what a hitter can put in play, what a hitter can hit on the ground, what a hitter can lift into the air, what a hitter can effectively pull, and what a hitter can effectively hit to the opposite field will determine what that hitter should swing at and take in situations. Most hitters have an idea what is usable for them, but now we can prove it.
HOW THE HITTING APPROACH APP CAN IMPROVE YOUR PLAYERS’ DECISION MAKING
We want to help hitters in programs that cannot afford radar based in-game tech build a data influenced approach at the plate. It starts with providing an easy way to input game data on pitch type, velocity, location, and result. Second, our cloud organizes data in a way that is simple to filter and read. Finally, we’ve created a postgame feedback loop that is almost instant, providing an opportunity for players to self assess and coaches an opportunity to provide feedback.
THE HITTING APPROACH FEEDBACK LOOP
Hitting Approach has an instant postgame feedback loop built into the software that shows hitters the situation, count, pitch type, location, velocity, and result of each pitch they saw that day. We call it their QPA Card or Quality Plate Appearance Card. It is emailed to them immediately after the game is uploaded onto the cloud (Hitting Approach does not need wifi to gather data). Hitters then assess themselves and click a button logging whether each pitch was a good decision to swing or not, and determining whether the at bat was a QPA. Hitters are also asked to type in what their plan was along with a few other process-oriented questions. Coaches then get notified when the card is submitted and can then edit and follow-up with notes of their own. The hitter simply asks themselves whether it was a good decision to swing or not has been worth its weight in gold—providing immediate feedback based on real, in-game outcomes. Instant feedback is crucial. There is no wait, so hitters and coaches remember more about the at bats, their plan, what they saw, and how they felt more so than waiting a few days or even hours to reflect.
If Ted Williams said that his success stemmed from “getting a good ball to hit,” maybe hitting coaches at all levels should put as much focus on their hitters’ decisions to swing or not as they do the swing itself. Providing hitters and hitting coaches with affordable in-game decision making data on hard hit balls, whiffs, and takes will give them a more clear picture of who they are as a hitter—and the more they know about themselves, the better decisions they will make at the plate. Likewise, the more you know about them as a coach, the better you can tailor their training to enhance strengths and diminish weaknesses. It is all possible now with the Hitting Approach App.
