Neayys Y Three Stats Players And Coaches Use To Improve (NAPSA)—Teamslooking to hit a home run when it comes to playing better this season may be interested in a few facts andstats. Analyzing over a billion pitches, 300 million at-bats and 7 million games scored, the leader in pro-style stats and live game updates for amateur sports launched its first annual report, “Redefining Success,” analyzing player stats both nationally and state by state. It highlights three “processbased” metrics—First Pitch Strike Percentage (FPS%), Hard Hit Balls (HHB) and Quality At-Bats (QAB)—that coaches can use to redefine player success, enhance player development and improve playersafety. How To Help Your Team: Make the First Pitch Count —First pitch strikes lead to more outs, fewer base runners and fewer pitches thrown per inning. When pitchers throw strike as the first pitch of an at-bat, they are far more likely to succeed. According to the study, at-bats that start with a strike result in a .322 on-base percentage, whereasif the first pitch is a ball, opponents reach base half the time (.500). The national average for FPS% is 58 percent. Pitchers with a 70 FPS% threw on average 14.4 pitches per inning, while those who had a 55 FPS% threw nearly three more pitches each inning. Lead-off walks lead to a run scored 46 percent of the time. *Hit the Ball Hard—and your batting average will take care of itself. A hard hit ball is a line drive or a hard groundball. Players who have an HHB% of 10 percent have a batting average of When coaches emphasize team- work, leadership and persever- ance, the scoreboard will take care ofitself. .297. If the HHB% is increased to 25 percent, the batting average jumps to .334. Slugging percentages skyrocket from .348 to .470 when increasing HHB% from 10 to 25 percent. *Win Each Battle at the Plate —to win the war on the scoreboard. Players with high HHB% also have more Quality AtBats and more wins. Teams with 12 or more quality at-bats a game win at least 60 percent of the time; six quality at-bats cuts the winning percentage in half. A QABhasat least one of the following: three pitches after two strikes, six+ pitches, extra base hit, walk, SAC bunt, SAC fly. To help coaches and players put this into practice, Ted Sullivan, former Cleveland Indian Minor League player, created a software platform called GameChanger that provides real-time amateur baseball, softball and basketball game updates, analytics and insights. It’s free to coaches on iPhone, iPad and the Web. Learn More For further information, visit www.gamechanger.com.
