Scouting Report

I can go on and on about how in-depth ML scouting reports are. They have hitter/pitcher abilities meaning, how hard one throws or power zones of a hitter. They also have the tendencies of players. What he chases or what he likes to throw in certain counts. There is so much more thinking at that level, its very hard to imagine it unless you've read some books on it or heard from a former ML player or coach.

At the amateur level, however, there are definitely things you can pick up on that will increase your chances of success. And that's really all it's about - increasing the chance of success. There is never a guarantee in baseball. Everyone knows the famous lines about hitting your spot but the batter cracks a duck fart and thats the game winning RBI. Miss your spot and the batter just misses, I guess you can call it luck.

A few of you readers requested that I blog more about personal experiences. I'd prefer not to write about myself but once in a while, if it flows, I'll throw something in. Last week, my team is getting no-hit, and just getting clobbered. We were very sloppy in the field and it was a game you just want to get out of. I happened to be on the bench and when we had a pitching change, I got to play some first base.

A few innings later, it is my turn at bat (third in the inning), my team still not having been able to solve two different pitchers and scratch one hit. The first batter up sees a fastball for strike one. Curve, strike two. Curve, strike three. I didn't think much of it, but I kept it logged in my mind. (I was a bit annoyed the batter stood up there with the bat on his shoulder - we are down plenty, we need hits.) I was in the hole at the time. The next batter walked on four pitches. My turn. He throws a fastball for strike one. OK, I'm sitting on another fastball. I don't want to chase anything but my pitch. He throws a curve, but it's low, count is 1-1. Another fastball is away, and the fourth pitch is a fastball inside, but I checked my swing and fouled it off. 2-2. OK, he's got me two strikes, and he's thrown plenty of fastballs now, he went with the hammer last time he had someone two strikes.

I remind myself to be quick and be ready to hit the fastball, but I was sitting on the curve. Sure enough, he throws the deuce and I lined it into left field for a single, breaking up the no-no. From there, my team had two more consecutive hits, and we scored two runs that inning, but ended up losing 12-2.

I think the important thing here is to know that its definitely easier to hit a pitch that you know is coming. If I tell you a fastball is coming, you'll be more succesful hitting than if you had to think about the deuce, slide-piece, change, etc. Simply, that is why batting averages go down when behind in the count- you just can't afford to sit on one pitch. Sitting on a pitch is just like someone telling you, "this pitch is coming in this location", and if you don't get it, don't swing- the luxury of being able to afford a strike.

Ah, hitting. So simple, right?