MMV #058: 5 Stats You Should Track This Season

Read time: 3 minutes 

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With the season quickly approaching, I want to talk about stats.

There are so many things you could focus on as a player and coach.

Truthfully it can become overwhelming and cause more harm than good.

Today, I want to give you 5 simple stats that you can track at any level of baseball.

The majority of these stats are process oriented.

When you have a good process, good results will follow.

Lets begin.

1. First Pitch Strikes

FPS has been tracked in baseball for a long time and for good reason.

It's common sense that first pitch strikes are good for the pitcher, but most still don't attack the zone enough.

To paint a better picture, notice below how much of a difference there is in performance after 1-0 counts compared to 0-1.

*D1 Baseball 2023*

2. Early and Ahead

E+A% is one of my favorite stats because it strongly correlates with walk rate, strikeouts, P/IP, and more.

Lets first define early and ahead.

Early is any time the ball is put in play on 3 pitches or less except for 2-0 counts.

This includes 0-0, 1-0, 0-1, and 1-1.

It doesn't matter what the result of the ball in play is. It could be a hit, out, or error and the pitcher would still get credit for an early.

Ahead is any time the pitcher gets to an 0-2 or 1-2 count.

Once again it doesn't matter what happens after that. The at bat could result in a hit, error, BB or HBP and it would still count as an ahead.

You can only get credit for 1 per plate appearance.

Example: 

The ball could be put in play on an 0-2 count and it would technically be 3 pitches. 

But in this case the pitcher would only get credit for an ahead.

To find your early and ahead percentage, simply add up all the early and aheads and divide by batters faced.

MLB average is 72%.

D1 average is 69%.

You can also track these separately.

Pitchers that have higher ahead percentages typically strikeout more batters.

MLB average is 40% and D1 average is 35%.

3. Swing%

I love this stat because it encourages the pitcher to be aggressive.

The goal is to get the batter to swing at as many pitches as possible.

If he is swinging often, that is a sign the pitcher is attacking the zone.

If you do that, you'll then be more likely to get the batter to chase outside of the zone.

D1 average is 43.6%

To track this stat simply divide total swings by total pitches.

4. K%

Strikeouts are one of the most important result based stats. Pitchers that strikeout a lot of batters likely have good stuff and/or are throwing to good locations.

I prefer K% over K/9 because it more accurately tells you how many batters the pitcher strikes out.

2 pitchers could strikeout 3 in an inning and have the same K/9, but a different K%.

Pitcher 1 faces 3 batters and strikes out all 3.

27 K/9 and 100% K%

Pitcher 2 faces 5 batters in an inning and strikes out 3.

27 K/9 and 60% K%

As you can see, these strikeouts are not created equal.

D1 average is 20%.

5. BB%

In the same vain as strikeouts, I prefer to look at BB% over BB/9.

This stat plays a vital role in a player or teams success.

D1 average is 10.9%

In Summary

5 stats you should track this season:

1. FPS

2. E+A

3. Swing%

4. K%

5. BB%

I have a stat tracking template available here to download for free.

You'll be able to track all of these stats for your team this season with a simple formula based excel file that will do all the calculations for you.

As always, reach out with any questions.

Good luck this season!

See you next week.

Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Remote Training: a personalized throwing and lifting program built for you and your goals.

2. In-Person Training: Work with me in Scottsdale, Arizona. Personalized training program to help you reach your goals. Trackman and edgertronic for bullpen sessions.

3. Trackman and Edgertronic camera bullpen: Get objective feedback on how your pitches are moving. I'll send you video and movement report after bullpen.