Quality At-Bats
I need to spend some more time on defining a quality at-bat, QAB.
The underlying philosophy is this — as a hitter, you cannot directly control the actual result of your at-bat. For example, you could do everything right and absolutely smoke a line drive right at the center fielder for an out. OR, you could do everything wrong, swing at a bad pitch and luckily poke a ball over the infielders head for a hit. Which at-bat is better? From a scout’s standpoint, it is pretty clear. It is better to be good, than lucky!
To get to the next level, you need a good approach a the plate. That means, as a hitter, you need to be in control. Quality At-Bats are all about things you can control.
You can control the following 4 ways of having a quality at bat:
1. Hit the ball hard, off the sweet spot. A hard ground ball, line drive, or ball over the outfielders head is hard hit. If you hit the ball hard, it is a quality at bat. We don’t care if the fielder makes a great play, or the ball is smoked right at him. We want you to square the ball up. Any time you do that is a quality at bat.
Note — fly balls are quality at-bats ONLY if they are over the outfielders head. A fly ball is a waste of time, regardless of the cheers and encouragement you get from the stands. If you hit fly balls, you will hit .180. That includes the rare home run. We want line drives and hard hit ground balls.
2. Execute a sacrifice bunt, hit & run, or move a runner from 2nd to 3rd with no outs or score a runner from 2nd or 2rd with less than 2 outs.
3. Draw a walk or get hit by a pitch. Taking an 0-2 curve ball off the back is a quality at-bat. Ducking out of the way is not.
4. Any 6+ pitch at bat, regardless of outcome. If you make the pitcher use up >6 pitches to get one out, it is a quality at bat. Even if you strike out, or make an easy out on the 7th pitch. That is how you get through #1 starters and into the bullpen of teams when you face a good pitcher. Battle, eat up pitches on every at-bat.
As a team, if our hitters put together 15 QAB, we will score 6-7 runs and win 80% of our games. Anytime, we don’t achieve this level of execution, the game is left to chance.
Social Media and Teenagers
My kids are in their 20’s, so Lauree and I did not have to deal with the issues around social media when our boys were teenagers. So, the only experience I have is from coaching teenagers over the past 8 years as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, now Snapchat have grown to a one click away issue for young men.
As a coach and very active social media business guy, I know that social media tools can be a big benefit. You can get information and fun stuff to players, teammates, fans, etc.. very quickly and in a manner that allows for interaction. As a coach, I use it a lot. Players can use it a lot to keep in touch and be a bigger part of each others lives. I stay in touch with current and past players all the time using social media tools.
But, just like everything related to the internet and remote communications, there is a dark side. These tools are very dangerous if used inappropriately, especially in the hands of teenagers. Face it, teenage boys do not have a lot of common sense. They struggle with rational decisions. This eventually will get better at some point. But, even really good kids can make really bad decisions.
So, mix bad judgement with social media and the result is potentially dangerous. Recent news captures some extreme examples. A lot of stupid stuff can happen quickly, and as soon as parents and authorities get involved, things get out of control. It cannot get to that point.
I am now adding this to my series of talks to teenage players, along with the “girl talk” and the drugs/alcohol talk. It is the same basic message:
- Everything in life is a choice that you alone make.
- Be responsible for your own actions
- Recognize that your actions have consequences, to yourself and others
I recently attended a social media conference in California– everyone who is anyone in social media was there. My net takeway was this — it’s the Wild West and will be for another decade. As parents and coaches, we need to help our kids navigate through the Wild West, to wear white hats not black, to stay out of the saloons and never, ever touch somebody else’s horse.
Hitting Adjustments
It is really hard to be a consistently good hitter. At the 14-17u levels that our teams play at, the metrics for an elite hitter are >.450 OBP and >.350 batting average. For a good hitter, it is >.400 OBP and >.300 batting average. Note — this is after about 100 plate appearances, so don’t freak out or celebrate for another 2 months.
To accomplish this level of performance requires consistent effort and competing in EVERY at bat (i.e. not giving away at-bats). If you give away at-bats when your team is up 6-1 or down 5-1, you are not going to achieve this level of performance.
Good hitters have a plan when they step into the batters box. What is your plan? In general, it should be “Get a good pitch and square it up”. But, what is your hitting approach in more detail?
Well, the answer should be “it depends …. on the situation”.
Runner on 2nd, no outs => your job is to advance the runner unless you are getting paid to play baseball.
Runner on 3rd, less than 2 outs => your job is to to get a good pitch to hit and hammer it.
Two strikes => your job is to shorten up, let the ball travel and battle your butt off to eat up pitches or get the pitcher to make a mistake.
So, your detailed approach is that it “Depends on the situation”
It also depends on the count.
And, it depends on the type of pitcher you are facing.
Here was a summary from a weekend this past summer:
In Game 1 this weekend, we faced two guys that were #1’s and we kept taking strike one fastballs. We took 14 strike one fastballs. You cannot do that against #1 guys. They have good stuff and they are not going to walk you. The strike 1 fastball is the best pitch you are going to see. Sit on it and compete. You need to take these match-ups personally as a hitter. Your future in baseball depends on beating #1 guys.
In Game 3, we faced a struggling pitcher for 3 innings and scored only 6 runs. In those situations, we need to step on the gas and relentlessly hit and walk our way to double digit runs. But, we starting refusing to walk and got ourselves out by swinging at bad pitches.
Then, in Game 3, we faced a crafty pitcher who got ahead in the count and then made us look foolish. We tried to hit the ball in the air with a 30mph wind blowing out. Instead, we fouled balls off early in the count then chased bad pitches. The result, was 3 innings and zero runs against a pitcher throwing 70 against the wind.
As the season progresses, we need to understand what kind of pitcher we are facing and how we need to adjust our approach immediately. Let’s not wait until the post-game talk to discuss adjustments.
Baseball Winning and Losing
There is a theory in baseball that says:
- you are going to win 20% of your games
- you are going to lose 20% of your games
- 60% of the games are up for grabs
(This, of course, assumes that you are playing at the correct level of competition.)
Another big caveat is that you never know what kind of game it is until it plays out.
Great teams win the games that are up for grabs and end up winning 2 out of three games. Weak teams fail to win games that are up for grabs, and end up with a .300 winning percentage. Average teams kind of just flip coin, win some, lose some and end up close to .500.
Part of team identity is choosing whether you are going to really battle for every game that is up for grabs (like 2 of our opponents this past weekend, sending us home early), or are you going to just settle for a coin flip.
You can learn a lot about yourself by watching other teams.
So, the next time a opposing coach yells “That’s what we needed!!” after a player hits a 2 run bomb when his team is down 6-1, maybe our guys will not laugh and make fun of him. Maybe next time they will strap on their batting gloves and start competing. Going through the motions is not going to work in games that are up for grabs.
14u Gamers Team Identity
“Team identity” is a amorphous term. It is the underlying chemistry and culture that a team develops when they practice and compete. It can be a big positive, and it can be a big negative.
Individual player success and team success improves significantly when a positive team energy emerges. The coaching staff is responsible for setting the overall environment, boundaries and expectations of team identity. That is what John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success is all about. But, the players fill in the blanks from there.
Sometimes it takes 2 weeks and sometimes 2 months. But, when it happens, it is pretty easy to see.
As a coach, I can provide my first input on this. Step 1 for this team is to play with high Energy Level and Passion — think Dustin Pedroia & David Eckstein, That will provide a foundation for lots of good things to follow.
Umpire Expectations
In the Gamers program, we talk about ROOTS — Respecting Opponents Officials Team and Self. And, part of Respecting Officials is for players NOT to react to umpire calls. Umpire calls are out of a player’s control. For parents, we ask (demand) that they do not umpire from the stands or make negative comments to umpires.
So, that part is clear.
And for Gamer coaches, we expect the same approach — being respectful of the umpires. We require that our players shake the umpires hands after games for a reason — out of respect and appreciation, just like shaking hand with the opponent (I need to talk to 14u players about this!!).
But, I am personally in a strange situation. The Gamers programs writes large checks to tournament operators, much of which ends up going to umpires. In that regard, as a customer I have certain expectations. I demand that umpires are engaged in the game and pay attention to detail. Basically, do their jobs with some passion and effort in exchange for money and some fun.
When I do not see that happening, I say something — usually after the game (but not always). This conversation does not go well, because umpires don’t like to be held accountable and I am a little too blunt in my criticism. As a customer, I am going to hold them accountable for passion and effort.
When I challenge an umpire, I am not looking for excuses for a loss. If we lose or do not play well, there is no doubt where the finger should be pointed — at our dugout. When it happens, I am just asking them to give an adequate level of effort.
Finally, it drives me crazy when umpires try to interject themselves into the game. The players play for themselves, their teammates and their coaches, not the umpires. If umpires have a problem with the players, they need to come and talk to the coach, not bark orders around like Barney Fife. If an umpire does this, I will defend our players 100% of the time. It is my job and I do it with passion and effort. If an umpire comes to the me to talk about a players behavior, then I will address it.
But, umpires do not get to play dictator and boss teenagers around. That is my job. Umpires need to stick to officiating, not coaching.
So, there is good chance I may be tossed from a game or two. It happens. But, it is not an excuse for not playing well AND it is not a free pass for players and parents to start playing umpire.
Players play, Parents parent, Umpires up and Coaches coach. It is really pretty simple and we need to hold each other accountable for that.
Coach Gallion Perspective 