Hitting and Hitters Discussion What in your mind is a good hitter?

[default]

Is it average, On base %, home runs? If they are only a home run hitter and k every three times up is that good?

So Lets see what you think good averages are?

I'll take a .320 hitter with an OB% of .500 vs a power hitter batting .250 and 15 hrs and 30Ks?

Most kids will not hit for power, give me contact, fundamental basics which includes bunting!patience at the plate and speed.....

Ok go ahead and rip me......

 

[default]

		Yr	Pos	g	ab	r	h	2b	3b	hr	rbi	bb	k	sb	cs	avg	obp	slg
			Sr	3B	59	195	49	83	16	2	3	30	15	8	1	1	.426	.467	.574

 

[default]

I like the ones that swing at strikes.

 

[default]

A good hitter knows what they are coming up to the plate for... and will not fold in pressure situations...

In MOST cases their job is to get to 1st base "anyway" they can.... although, there are those situations where they must make some sort of contact to make a play happen.
If they can do that, I as most coaches will take them on our team and the numbers will take care of themselves...

 

[default]

A good hitter can handle pitchers' strikes and will usually clobber pitches in their zone.

 

[default]

A good hitter is one that knows their own strike zone,makes contact, and can adapt their swing to what the situation needs.

 

[default]

a good hitter can do it all. see pitches, work a pitcher, hit will 2 strikes, understand what to do in any given time. not so much hit for power but can hit with power. understanding hitting behind the runner with a runner on 1st. taking walks. theres alot to a good hitter.

 

[default]

a good hitter can do it all. see pitches, work a pitcher, hit will 2 strikes, understand what to do in any given time. not so much hit for power but can hit with power. understanding hitting behind the runner with a runner on 1st. taking walks. theres alot to a good hitter.

like to add this... after striking out... stopping to tell the next batter where the zone is, the movement, speed, etc. This to me with the comments by Billy sum it up without using any numbers/stats.

 

[default]

Is it average, On base %, home runs? If they are only a home run hitter and k every three times up is that good?

So Lets see what you think good averages are?

I'll take a .320 hitter with an OB% of .500 vs a power hitter batting .250 and 15 hrs and 30Ks?

Most kids will not hit for power, give me contact, fundamental basics which includes bunting!patience at the plate and speed.....

Ok go ahead and rip me......

When a hitter has enough plate appearances, I look at OPS (on-base plus slugging), giving a little extra weight to on-base percentage, and also whether they can steal bases successfully. That .320 hitter with a .500 OBP must be walking a ton of times. It would be someone who is 16 for 50 with 18 walks. Whether I would take that hitter over the hitter hitting .250 with 15 HRs is not possible to say without knowing more. I'd need to know the .320 hitter's slugging average and the .250 hitter's OBP.

 

[default]

I will give you stats and my comment after this was...pretty good day at the plate....2AB's, 2 runs scored, 1 hit, 2 walks and no K's...I will take those stats all day long.

Looking past the stats part I agree its being a leader on the field, working the count, putting the bat on the ball to make something happen...I could care less about home runs but like line drives and contact, if it goes out then it goes out.

 

[default]

A good hitter is one that knows their own strike zone,makes contact, and can adapt their swing to what the situation needs.

Good one chris, also can work the pitch count.

 

[default]

When a hitter has enough plate appearances, I look at OBP (on-base plus slugging), giving a little extra weight to on-base percentage, and also whether they can steal bases successfully. That .320 hitter with a .500 OBP must be walking a ton of times. It would be someone who is 16 for 50 with 18 walks. Whether I would take that hitter over the hitter hitting .250 with 15 HRs is not possible to say without knowing more. I'd need to know the .320 hitter's slugging average and the .250 hitter's OBP.

Did you mean OPS?

 

[default]

Not enough credit is given for RoE in my opinion. Shows players who put the ball in play and hustle out EVERYTHING. Hustle IS everything. Add that in to OBP and you got my kind of hitter. Errors can be FORCED by hard hit balls, WEIRD hit balls, and SPEED. Don't let anyone tell you they can't.

 

[default]

Ground balls cause errors. I'd take the all around hitter over the.power hitter any day of the week and twice on Sundays. A good hitter knows where to.hit the outside pitch to, when to open up the hips and drive the inside pitch, and keep the hands back on those change ups. Finding out some 12yr olds have trouble with these.

 

[default]

Did you mean OPS?

Yep, I sure did! I fixed it in my post.

 

[default]

A batter who approaches an at-bat with an excellent understanding of what the team needs at that moment. It is not always a homerun, but sometimes it is just that. It is usually just a good solid hit into a specific gap that allows runners to advance, or just gets the batter on base. It is understanding the mindset of a pitcher who is struggling to throw a strike, and not swinging at bad pitches. It is having the skills and confidence to hit YOUR pitch when your team needs it most. It is knowing the difference between when a walk will help the team, or when you MUST have a hit to advance a runner to score.

I think every softball girl should watch and study the high percentage hitters in MLB. I'm not talking about the headline making power hitters, but rather the everyday blue collar hitters who grind out a ton of RBIs by hitting like I described. Those are the type of hitters I admire.

 

[default]

How about a kid that has a BA of 332 and an OB% of 562 in high school, or in travel ball 336 with OB% of 467 and an OPS of 774. Leads team in walks, BB, ROE's, and run scored.

 

[default]

Many of you seem to think that it is not that common to have the total package, power, avg. ob%, slug %, OPS. My experience in fastpitch is that most power hitters are also hitting for good average and have good obp% because they are taking lots of walks. I haven't seen many players on the higher level teams that are all or nothing hitters.

 

[default]

There are all kinds of stats to consider, but over the course of a relatively short season, they can be a little deceiving. At the 12U level, I look primarily at a modified on-base percentage which includes reached by error for the reasons Mad Hornet described above ... this also does a lot to take the scorekeeping out of the equation. But to me, what makes a good hitter is someone who hits the ball hard on a regular basis. If you are consistently making solid contact, that's who I want up when the game is on the line in the late innings.