Make contact!

I’ve been in this game for more than thirty-six years. 

In that time, I’ve been an amateur and professional player, scout, manager, and instructor, and I’ve worked with players from little leaguers to major leaguers.

I’ve been around long enough to personally experience the massive change in the way the game is taught and evaluated. I played little league in an era when there was literally no instruction. No coaching. Just a guy who showed up to make sure we didn’t all disappear into the woods next to the field and yelled out “See the ball, hit the ball!” from time to time. Today, every small intricacy and nuance of the game is taught and measured, from the fundamentals of throwing, catching, hitting, and running, to the subtleties of hand and foot position. And there’s no question that today, baseball is a numbers game.

Don’t believe me? This is just what gets tracked in-game.

DEFENSE

Assist (A)
Caught Stealing Percentage (CS%)
Double Play (DP)
Error (E)
Fielding Percentage (FPCT)
Innings Played (INN)
Out (O)
Outfield Assist (OFA)
Passed Ball (PB)
Putout (PO)
Total Chances (TC)
Triple Play (TP)

OFFENSE

At-bat (AB)
Batting Average (AVG)
Caught Stealing (CS)
Double (2B)
Extra-base Hit (XBH)
Games Played (G)
Grand Slam (GSH)
Ground Into Double Play (GIDP)
Groundout-to-Flyout Ratio (GO/AO)
Hit-by-pitch (HBP)
Hit (H)
Home Run (HR)
Intentional Walk (IBB)
Left On Base (LOB)
On-base Percentage (OBP)
On-base Plus Slugging (OPS)
Plate Appearance (PA)
Reached On Error (ROE)
Run (R)
Runs Batted In (RBI)
Sacrifice Bunt (SH)
Sacrifice Fly (SF)
Single (1B)
Slugging Percentage (SLG)
Stolen Base (SB)
Stolen-base Percentage (SB%)
Total Bases (TB)
Triple (3B)
Walk (BB)
Walk-off (WO)

PITCHING

Appearance (App)
Balk (BK)
Batters Faced (BF)
Blown Save (BS)
Complete Game (CG)
Earned Run (ER)
Earned Run Average (ERA)
Flyout (AO)
Games Finished (GF)
Games Started (GS)
Groundout (GO)
Hold (HLD)
Inherited Runner (IR)
Innings Pitched (IP)
Loss (L)
Number of Pitches (NP)
Pickoff (PK)
Quality Start (QS)
Relief Win (RW)
Save (SV)
Save Opportunity (SVO)
Save Percentage (SV%)
Shutout (SHO)
Strikeout (SO, K)
Unearned Run (UER)
Walks And Hits Per Inning Pitched (WHIP)
Wild Pitch (WP)
Win (W)
Winning Percentage (WPCT)

Oh yeah. We also keep score.

There are so many statistics associated with the game these days that an entire industry has grown up around them, and a really great movie has been made about them. All of that basically means that today’s game is all about information, which really means that communication is the key to coaching. So when we hear baseball coaches and managers get excited about bringing PowerPlayer Baseball to their athletes, we know we’re onto something.

Because PowerPlayer Baseball is designed to capture assessments in the form of ratings on subjectives such as work ethic and demeanor, and deliver instructional and motivational comments directly to players on an individual basis, coaches are immediately recognizing the potential for them to help their athletes not only understand the metrics that matter to them, but what it will take for them to improve. 

And they know that by providing instruction and motivation to players in small doses over a longer period of time instead of offering up a typical end-of-season one-time assessment, coaches make feedback easier to act on and make incremental improvement more achievable. For coaches who are focused on player development, that’s the missing ingredient.

A former MLB player with Toronto, Cleveland, New York, and Cincinnatt, Eric Crozier of a D-BAT Atlantic in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia recently told us that he most definitely wants to get away from the “one phone call to parents at the end of the season” player evaluation model. During three or four solid days of calls, he said, parents typically ask him questions that he knows PowerPlayer Baseball can help coaches answer before they’re even asked. “PowerPlayer Baseball is a no-brainer. Constant feedback throughout the season is so much more beneficial for players who want to improve, and of course the flow of information is perfect for parents who want to be kept up to speed.”

Carlos Sepulveda, CEO of Five Tool Players in Pearland, Texas, says his organization is focused on finding ways to present kids with the best opportunities to improve. “Information is king in baseball, and PowerPlayer completes the picture by enabling coaches to capture it and deliver it to the people who need it most — players, parents, and other coaches.” 

Eddie Gonzales is President, CEO and Director of Baseball at the Empire Professional Baseball League — a Tampa, Florida-based development league with teams in New York, New Hampshire, and Puerto Rico — and owner of ProTalent Instructs in Ruskin, Florida. His reaction to the PowerPlayer Baseball feedback system? “This platform is exactly what we need. Our job is to nurture and develop young talent, and the kind of information that PowerPlayer Baseball helps track and deliver is invaluable when it comes to players understanding and taking advantage of what their coaches are telling them. The PowerPlayer platform really rounds out the kind of data we want to be able to provide to our athletes. It’s the missing ingredient in the development process.”

So I may have thirty-six years of baseball behind me, but based on the looks PowerPlayer Baseball is getting so far, I’m excited about the game ahead.

Want to talk about PowerPlayer Baseball? Make contact. 

Learn more: PowerPlayer Baseball