| The Coach's Corner / Batting Averages |
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Help me!!!!! Son 0-7 so far He's hit the ball hard thrice but right at someone, struck out twice, once looking on a low and away pitch, and got his weight way out front on a change-up and dribbled it to second and his last swing yesterday was what appeared to be a half swing to the third baseman. He plays on a 10 yr old travel squad and last year he hit .395 on a team that hit .340 on the year. He's always been a good hitter, but now, we're seeing a lot more change of speed, including sadly, hooks. Any advice? I think his last swing yesterday showed he is losing confidence and is becoming tentative. This is a recent post in the TIPS FROM THE COACH discussion board. It doesn’t matter whether a kid is failing math, they all can figure a BA. They all have a preseason goal like “I’m going to hit .400”. They start off 0-7 and go home and extrapolate the math and “ I’ve got to hit .575 the rest of the season to hit .400. This season SUCKS!” It becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. This player hit the ball hard three times! Had they found a hole, he’s a happy camper! But because he is concerned with his BA, he is “ losing confidence and becoming tentative”. Sounds like a SLUMP to me. Batting Averages are so subjective as to be almost meaningless. If the scorekeepers’ son is a pitcher, all balls that are not converted into outs are errors. All balls that get by the catcher are “pass balls” not “wild pitches”. Hence Junior’s ERA stays low even though he gave up 10. If the scorekeeper’s son is a hitter, those boots are all bad hops or “too hot to handle”. I once noticed that one HS team had 5 players hitting over .500! Yet, their record was 3-16. Must have been some pretty bad pitching. I keep stats on my team but I no longer post them in the dugout. I got tired of Dads coming up to me with their interpretation of their son’s stats and arguing that I should change an error to a hit. I really don’t care what their BA is. I don’t need to see their BA to know if they are a productive offensive player or not. As I have said before. A player must learn that he can only concern himself with those things over which he has control. He can only control: 1. The amount of preparation he has done so that he can expect to have success. 2. The pitch at which he chooses to swing 3. How hard he runs to first. He can not control whether the SS stabs his rope, the umpire makes a bad call, or the scorekeeper calls his shot in the hole an error. To concern ones self with any of those things is completely counterproductive. Baseball is a game of failure. Only fail 2 of 3 times for your career and you will end up in the Hall Of Fame. But you failed twice as much as you succeed. More players are driven out of the game not because they can’t play but because they can’t handle the failures that come with the game. The Coach www.tipsfromthecoach.com ARCHIVES
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Gas Lites
Today in 1991, Houston QB
David Klingler sets NCAA
record with 6 touchdown
passes in the 2nd quarter
as the Cougars clobbered
Louisiana Tech 73-3.
