Moderators Blake Munroe Posted January 22 Moderators Share Posted January 22 “WEAR IT.” I’ve probably heard my 15 year old son told that 25+ times in the last six months during baseball. After all, his coach is a hard-nosed, no BS, do what it takes to help your team type of guy. And I absolutely love it. My son responds well to it and I truly feel he gets the most out of baseball when he's coached hard. As for my son's coach, he knows what it takes to win. I saw him smoke many Big 12 opponents down while on the mound, including some former Longhorns. (Of course I also saw Ivan Melendez hit one of his longest hits ever against him, a fact my son and I both like to bring up occasionally.) On Sunday, I texted Bobby with this stat: Every team that won a national title this past year were in the top few teams that lead the nation in hit by pitches. D1: LSU 143 HBP (2nd in nation) D2: Angelo State 152 HBP (2nd in nation) D3: Lynchburg 107 HBP (7th in nation) And that got me thinking… Is HBP count an indicator for success? Sure it may not tell the whole story, but could it possibly show the unselfishness of a team to a degree and does that correlate to wins? So I decided to look it up with Texas as my case study, mainly to prove a point to my son. Here’s the season, the final record, how many HBP the team recorded in Big 12 conference play only, where that HBP total ranked in Big 12 play and where the Longhorns ended up at the end of the year. 2023 (38-18): 42 HBP (Last in Big 12) - Super Regional 2022 (47-22): 83 (3rd) - CWS 2021 (50-17): 74 (2nd) - CWS 3rd Place 2020: DNP due to Covid 2019 (27-27): 31 (Last in Big 12) – DNQ for post-season play 2018 (42-23): 65 (3rd) - CWS 2017 (39-24): 50 (3rd*) - Regional Final 2016 (25-32): 36 (5th) – DNQ for post-season play 2017* - The difference between 1st and 3rd was 34 HBP, whereas the difference between 3rd and 5th was 3 HBP. Pretty interesting results. 2023 might be an anomaly because Texas rarely got hit by a pitch, yet they made the Supers and were extremely close to advancing past that. The results in 2018, 2021 and 2022 speak for themselves. 40+ wins, and trips to the CWS. They were in the top 3 in HBP each year. They were top 3 in 2017, but I think it's important to read my note there. 2016 and 2019 weren’t kind to the Longhorns and those are the only two times the HBP numbers were in the 30s. They didn’t qualify for the post-season in either year. It’s not a definitive stat by any means, but it only shores up my belief that unselfish players and unselfish teams do well in baseball. I truly believe getting on base by any means necessary is an indicator of unselfishness. What will 2024 bring? We will find out in a few weeks. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Realist Horn Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 I coach a 13U AAA/AA team; I may be stealing your stat when I talk with them next time. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HenryJames Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Just show them this: 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Blake Munroe Posted January 23 Author Moderators Share Posted January 23 3 hours ago, Realist Horn said: I coach a 13U AAA/AA team; I may be stealing your stat when I talk with them next time. Haha be my guest. Trying to drill it into my son this evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Blake Munroe Posted January 23 Author Moderators Share Posted January 23 3 hours ago, HenryJames said: Just show them this: This cracked me up. I think I’m good after 65. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Camaron Borracho Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 8 hours ago, Blake Munroe said: “WEAR IT.” I’ve probably heard my 15 year old son told that 25+ times in the last six months during baseball. After all, his coach is a hard-nosed, no BS, do what it takes to help your team type of guy. And I absolutely love it. My son responds well to it and I truly feel he gets the most out of baseball when he's coached hard. As for my son's coach, he knows what it takes to win. I saw him smoke many Big 12 opponents down while on the mound, including some former Longhorns. (Of course I also saw Ivan Melendez hit one of his longest hits ever against him, a fact my son and I both like to bring up occasionally.) On Sunday, I texted Bobby with this stat: Every team that won a national title this past year were in the top few teams that lead the nation in hit by pitches. D1: LSU 143 HBP (2nd in nation) D2: Angelo State 152 HBP (2nd in nation) D3: Lynchburg 107 HBP (7th in nation) And that got me thinking… Is HBP count an indicator for success? Sure it may not tell the whole story, but could it possibly show the unselfishness of a team to a degree and does that correlate to wins? So I decided to look it up with Texas as my case study, mainly to prove a point to my son. Here’s the season, the final record, how many HBP the team recorded in Big 12 conference play only, where that HBP total ranked in Big 12 play and where the Longhorns ended up at the end of the year. 2023 (38-18): 42 HBP (Last in Big 12) - Super Regional 2022 (47-22): 83 (3rd) - CWS 2021 (50-17): 74 (2nd) - CWS 3rd Place 2020: DNP due to Covid 2019 (27-27): 31 (Last in Big 12) – DNQ for post-season play 2018 (42-23): 65 (3rd) - CWS 2017 (39-24): 50 (3rd*) - Regional Final 2016 (25-32): 36 (5th) – DNQ for post-season play 2017* - The difference between 1st and 3rd was 34 HBP, whereas the difference between 3rd and 5th was 3 HBP. Pretty interesting results. 2023 might be an anomaly because Texas rarely got hit by a pitch, yet they made the Supers and were extremely close to advancing past that. The results in 2018, 2021 and 2022 speak for themselves. 40+ wins, and trips to the CWS. They were in the top 3 in HBP each year. They were top 3 in 2017, but I think it's important to read my note there. 2016 and 2019 weren’t kind to the Longhorns and those are the only two times the HBP numbers were in the 30s. They didn’t qualify for the post-season in either year. It’s not a definitive stat by any means, but it only shores up my belief that unselfish players and unselfish teams do well in baseball. I truly believe getting on base by any means necessary is an indicator of unselfishness. What will 2024 bring? We will find out in a few weeks. Lean into it, I say 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thailand T Sip Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 Blake, that's a helluva insight! Really appreciate it. My favorite sports are MLB, college football and hockey. Never really thought about it, but you made me ponder this. Great hockey teams have players who give up their bodies for the blocked shot, great football teams have a Whit & X running 60 yards to create a fumble and recovery & great BB teams recognize that it's truly needs team effort despite being on an island when the hot shot comes, e.g - HOFer Biggio. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Handler Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 On 1/22/2024 at 2:30 PM, Blake Munroe said: “WEAR IT.” I’ve probably heard my 15 year old son told that 25+ times in the last six months during baseball. After all, his coach is a hard-nosed, no BS, do what it takes to help your team type of guy. And I absolutely love it. My son responds well to it and I truly feel he gets the most out of baseball when he's coached hard. As for my son's coach, he knows what it takes to win. I saw him smoke many Big 12 opponents down while on the mound, including some former Longhorns. (Of course I also saw Ivan Melendez hit one of his longest hits ever against him, a fact my son and I both like to bring up occasionally.) On Sunday, I texted Bobby with this stat: Every team that won a national title this past year were in the top few teams that lead the nation in hit by pitches. D1: LSU 143 HBP (2nd in nation) D2: Angelo State 152 HBP (2nd in nation) D3: Lynchburg 107 HBP (7th in nation) And that got me thinking… Is HBP count an indicator for success? Sure it may not tell the whole story, but could it possibly show the unselfishness of a team to a degree and does that correlate to wins? So I decided to look it up with Texas as my case study, mainly to prove a point to my son. Here’s the season, the final record, how many HBP the team recorded in Big 12 conference play only, where that HBP total ranked in Big 12 play and where the Longhorns ended up at the end of the year. 2023 (38-18): 42 HBP (Last in Big 12) - Super Regional 2022 (47-22): 83 (3rd) - CWS 2021 (50-17): 74 (2nd) - CWS 3rd Place 2020: DNP due to Covid 2019 (27-27): 31 (Last in Big 12) – DNQ for post-season play 2018 (42-23): 65 (3rd) - CWS 2017 (39-24): 50 (3rd*) - Regional Final 2016 (25-32): 36 (5th) – DNQ for post-season play 2017* - The difference between 1st and 3rd was 34 HBP, whereas the difference between 3rd and 5th was 3 HBP. Pretty interesting results. 2023 might be an anomaly because Texas rarely got hit by a pitch, yet they made the Supers and were extremely close to advancing past that. The results in 2018, 2021 and 2022 speak for themselves. 40+ wins, and trips to the CWS. They were in the top 3 in HBP each year. They were top 3 in 2017, but I think it's important to read my note there. 2016 and 2019 weren’t kind to the Longhorns and those are the only two times the HBP numbers were in the 30s. They didn’t qualify for the post-season in either year. It’s not a definitive stat by any means, but it only shores up my belief that unselfish players and unselfish teams do well in baseball. I truly believe getting on base by any means necessary is an indicator of unselfishness. What will 2024 bring? We will find out in a few weeks. This is awesome, sharing with my 13 Majors team. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Burton Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 On 1/22/2024 at 4:28 PM, HenryJames said: Just show them this: I think back to the stupid stuff I did at that age. This would have been right up my alley. And it makes me smile. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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