Hitting vs Pitching?

[whoisatfirst]

Curious of some of your thoughts...which would you rather see your team be great at? A great hitting team with poor pitching, or a great pitching team with poor bats?

 

IMO in HS sports, I would rather have a great hitting team.

[Peppermint Patty]

To win games, you better be able to hit the ball a little. It's hard to win if you can't score.

 

This is magnified if you can't get people out.

[NDOMAKONG]

Great pitching beats great hitting... give me a stud on the bump.

[adminbaberuth]

Give me the pitching, coaching can manufacture a run or two. 

 

It might be just me, but hitting has degressed over the past 10 years. It use to be each team had 5 guys that could hit, today I'm seeing maybe 3 per team, that's against good pitching.

[Peppermint Patty]

Great pitching beats great hitting... give me a stud on the bump.

 

This is true, but he better have some offense on his side too.

[Peppermint Patty]

Give me the pitching, coaching can manufacture a run or two. 

 

It might be just me, but hitting has degressed over the past 10 years. It use to be each team had 5 guys that could hit, today I'm seeing maybe 3 per team, that's against good pitching.

 

I've watched D1 players that can't lay down a bunt, can't go the other way, and have no clue how to hit in counts and/or situations.

 

Like the kid in basketball who spends all day trying to perfect his dunking skills and refuses to work on free throws, many HS hitters spend all day in BP trying to hit HR's and do not work on the "little" things.

 

I'm not talking about practice time. I know coaches work on situational hitting in BP. I'm talking about those 100 hacks you're putting in every day on YOUR time. 

 

Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

 

Ok. Rant over.

[fox]

Give me the pitching, coaching can manufacture a run or two. 

 

It might be just me, but hitting has degressed over the past 10 years. It use to be each team had 5 guys that could hit, today I'm seeing maybe 3 per team, that's against good pitching.

that is because they took away those high performance pieces of metal they were using.

[whoisatfirst]

On any other level of baseball give me pitching, in HS give me hitting. You see dominate pitching performances all the time in HS but the result is a loss or no decision because of lack of offense. IMO from watching HS baseball over the years, good hitting can get to good pitching.

[adminbaberuth]

On any other level of baseball give me pitching, in HS give me hitting. You see dominate pitching performances all the time in HS but the result is a loss or no decision because of lack of offense. IMO from watching HS baseball over the years, good hitting can get to good pitching.

I will take my chances winning 1-0 instead of loosing 10-9.

[Critter]

Great pitching beats great hitting... give me a stud on the bump.

Totally Agree Here.... ^^^^

[Peppermint Patty]

The lowest ERA in the HISTORY of baseball was 0.86. That is less than 1 run allowed per game! He still finished 6-6 for the season.

 

You gotta score to win!

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/earned_run_avg_season.shtml

[Critter]

The lowest ERA in the HISTORY of baseball was 0.86. That is less than 1 run allowed per game! He still finished 6-6 for the season.

 

You gotta score to win!

 

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/earned_run_avg_season.shtml

You answered your own opinion.. LOL.... IF a Dominant pitcher can keep the other team off the score board then you can scrape a run or two across with good to mediocre bats and win some games.  Just My opinion

[Peppermint Patty]

You answered your own opinion.. LOL.... IF a Dominant pitcher can keep the other team off the score board then you can scrape a run or two across with good to mediocre bats and win some games.  Just My opinion

 

But he should win MORE than 50%.

[Critter]

But he should win MORE than 50%.

oh, I totally agree with you.... !!!!!

[NDOMAKONG]

An ERA says nothing about how many runs were score in an unearned fashion... can be very misleading if you have a screen door defense. 

[stangx2]

Depends on what level your talking about...on the high school level great pitching keeps you in every game. However, I say hitting because that can overcome quite a bit in high school. To be a really outstanding team you need a combination of both.

[pinelandflash]

Great pitching almost always stymies great hitting
at any level IMO. If you score 23 runs and can't hold it the loss is just the same as if it were 1-0, though. I also think the recent introduction of the BBCOR bats has resulted in offensive numbers going down across the board while pitching stats have seen an uptick.I'd rather have strong pitching and timely hitting than strong hitting and weak pitching......

[LandonWright]

I could go either way on this. Defense over the past few years has gone down the tube so I would take fielding over both pitching and hitting. 

 

I still think I would take pitching because you can typically keep yourself in a game. I think you can walk, bunt and manufacture a run or two in just about any game. When bats go cold they normally go cold for stretches at a time. Typically if you have a good pitcher they are on more than not 

[adminbaberuth]

I could go either way on this. Defense over the past few years has gone down the tube so I would take fielding over both pitching and hitting.

I still think I would take pitching because you can typically keep yourself in a game. I think you can walk, bunt and manufacture a run or two in just about any game. When bats go cold they normally go cold for stretches at a time. Typically if you have a good pitcher they are on more than not

I think you have a great point on defense. Looking back over the years of high school ball I've witnessed is the lack of defense. We still have hard throwers and great high school hitters but the routine ground ball and fly ball is not automatic.

[LandonWright]

How many time do you see a routine double play not get made because of poor footwork or bad ball placement, missed cut off men, bad decisions on throws and my pet peeve of not coming off the base to catch a throw or block a ball. Errors are part of the game and I understand but think we sometimes miss the "extra out"

 

Give me a guy who throws strike around 78-82 with a good defense and I will find you the team who wins WAY more than they lose. Especially in the playoffs

[rounder17]

that is because they took away those high performance pieces of metal they were using.

Doesn't affect hits. If you can hit, you can hit with bbcor as well as the old bats.

[PhatMack19]

The lowest ERA in the HISTORY of baseball was 0.86. That is less than 1 run allowed per game! He still finished 6-6 for the season.

You gotta score to win!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/earned_run_avg_season.shtml

Did you really just break out baseball stats from 1880?

[Peppermint Patty]

No matter the sport:

Offense wins games.
Defense (and pitching) win championships.

[Peppermint Patty]

Did you really just break out baseball stats from 1880?

Yep. I remember watching that guy pitch.

[PhatMack19]

What was Shepherd's record last year with the Kolek brothers both throwing 95+ in 3a? I believe they finished under .500 and were bounced in the first round of the playoffs. Their defense was horrible though. Any ball put in play was booted. Great pitching doesn't matter if the defense can't make plays behind you.


I would take good pitching and great defense. I can figure out a way to scratch a few runs across the plate.