Quality At Bats
There are lots of things that a team can do offensively to generate runs. But, it all starts with competing in every at-bat.
Sometimes, a hitter can do everything right, get a good pitch to hit, and hit a smoking line drive right at the center fielder for an out. The next at bat, the same hitter could chase a bad pitch and hit a weak pop-up over the first baseman's head. Everyone in the stands claps on the weak hit, further confusing the player. Which was a better at-bat -- the smoking line drive out, or the blooper lucky hit?
Luck is a factor in hitting. But, luck is not within a player's control.
The process of wining games requires that players have Quality At Bats by focusing on things that they can control. We define a Quality At Bat as:
- Any time the player squares up a ball - a hard hit groundball, any line drive, or any ball driven over the outfielders head is a Quality At Bat REGARDLESS of outcome. The line drive caught by the CF is a Quality At-Bat. The bloop hit is not.
- Any walk or hit-by-pitch
- Any successful "execution" at bat - bunt for hit, sacrifice bunt, squeeze, hit & run, advancing the runner with 0 outs, and scoring a runner from third.
- Any 6+ pitch at bat - regardless of outcome (walk, K, hit, etc...). Any time a player competes at the plate and eats up 6+ pitches, he is contributing to the team. A 10 pitch at bat can completely change a game.
There are four ways to have a Quality At Bat. All four are directly within control of the hitter and focus on what we ask players to do --- get a good pitch to hit, hit the ball hard, execute when called upon and compete on every at bat. The top hitters on the team will have >50% Quality At Bats.
As a team, if you put together 15 or more Quality At Bats in a game, you will score at least 5 runs and will win 80% of those games. But, the difference between 10 Quality At Bats and 15 Quality At Bats is a big gap. It is amazing how 10 QAB's will result in 2 runs, but 15 QAB's will result in 7 runs. But, you can't get to 10, unless someone steps up early and competes.
In youth baseball, 15 QAB's is the magic number, and you will win 80% of those games.
