They say men lie, women lie, but Numbers (4 8 15 16, 23, 42) don't.
One of the beauty's of baseball/softball is that it is a game of numbers. Typically most players are judged by the numbers/statistics they put up. As
everyone takes pride in their statistics
as it can be a frustrating, humbling, hard game where the best players are the ones that minimize their "failures" . Nothing wrong about tracking/checking statistics in fact I encourage it if :
- Your having a great season - very fun
- Having a bad season - maybe make adjustments/changes?
- Want to see how your performing vs. other players
- Historical Analysis
- Managing
Lead Softballinsider.Net Analyst John Sheppard feels the following way about statistics:
He is right they can be very useful, but before you accept your MVP I would like to take a Que from rude rappers like
Kanye West
and Old Dirty Bastard
and interrupt your award ceremony and remind you that softball numbers can lie:
Some necessarily Ride Softball Statistics Interruptions
- No Stat for hitting in hard luck - How many times do you center a ball up and get nothing to show for it while someone else hits a bloop or dribbler and gets a hit. John Carter
on Diesel has hit in ridiculously bad luck this year. Their is no statistics for solid contact/centering a ball up, which is every hitter's goal b/c that is what gives you the best opportunity to succeed over a long season. A hit is a hit and an out is an out, but you still go to try and go about hitting the right way - Softball is made up of many mini-season. For example, Sunday league, Tuesday League, several off days, or 6 games in one day, so statistics can very very skewed at times. One hot or not day can really taint statistics
- Level of Competition - Are you hitting against top pitching or beating up on
sleepy starters
I could go on and on about other important things like defensive ability/savvy, walks, fields, lineup protection factor, advancing runners, clutch hitting, working counts, chemistry, but the fact remains that when judging a player, managing, or making a lineup numbers can be deceiving.
HORRIBLE commentary, just HORRIBLE! Never faced that sleepy starter but if I had my way, line drive in the stomach that bounces back and hits the batter. I just get treated to a dose of Cedric this coming Sunday. HORRIBLE!!!
ReplyDeleteif your hitting your playing! lmao
ReplyDeleteI think the problem with stats at "our" level is the dreaded "small sample size."
ReplyDeleteIf we played 100 games, by the end of 100 games, I think you'd get an accurate view of each player, or, close enough. Over that many plate appearances (figure 300-400 in softball), the luck or lack of it evens out.
But looking at our Westies, the most at bats anyone had last year was 55 (Mike P.) You and I had scarily similar stats in '09, reflecting that in the Sunday league, we are about the same hitters. (You are MUCH better than me in the fast pitch league). But, add 100 at bats, and I believe you would have pulled away, even if it was slightly, reflecting our relative talent levels.
Sample sizes, my friend!
Glenn Raucher
Mine is bigger than yours.
ReplyDeleteRicky is the best softball playa eva! beats you with his bat,glove,blazing speed,brain and when nothing else works, he ll just beat you with his blog.
ReplyDeleteThe blog rules
ReplyDelete