Unlocking Success: The Surprising Science Behind How Good Coaching Transforms Performance
Admittedly, there is nothing more challenging than doing analysis on the fly. All numbers that appear in the lab during the regular season are a snapshot in time. In April, the impacts of one or two games can have quite an effect on the overall numbers. However, we are trying to look at things holistically and when that happens the numbers have a little more value.
Coming into play the Rockies, the Astros had the number one offense in MLB. They were number one in almost every category. The most telling category is walks. It seems foolish to say, but nothing gets more giddy and excited than walks. It is the single most underappreciated stat in baseball. Certainly, the season is only two weeks old, but the change has been noticeable.
Before I dive into the numbers I should make a few admissions. First, my username for SBNation is “VBallretired”. I took that name because I am a retired volleyball coach. Admittedly, my career as a coach was short. I quit coaching when my daughter was very young because I wanted to see her grow up. I’ll never regret that decision. I say all that to say that I know how difficult coaching is. I also know that what happens on the field or court is not always a reflection of the message you are giving to the players.
Alex Cintron and Troy Snitker were the guys for the last several years (since 2018 for Cintron). I am not in the clubhouse. I am not an insider. I don’t know the message that was being communicated. I can only see the results. The results were pretty clear. The Astros were less selective overall, more aggressive early in counts, and not particularly effective in situational hitting situations with men on base. Those are the facts. Whether they were coached to do those things or not is unknown.
As a former coach, I can attest to the fact that some teams take to your core message and resemble the kind of team you envision. Some teams don’t. I definitely get it. So, I will not completely crap on Cintron and Snitker except to say that the team was not effective offensively and it was time for a new voice (or voices). Sometimes people’s voices get drowned out for whatever reason. However, the numbers below are a testament to the idea that coaches can have an effect. A number of fans and analysts didn’t think it mattered. Players are who they are. That is certainly true to a certain extent, but it is not universally true.
We are looking at three process numbers do demonstrate what has been happening in the early going. The first number is chase rate. As a reminder, 30 percent tends to be around the league average. We are comparing each player’s 2025 rate with the 2026 rate. So, league norms are not necessarily relevant. The second number is swing percentage. it is followed by zone percentage which is the percentage of pitches that actually wind up in the zone. 50 percent tends to be average on both counts. Again, we are more interested in 2025 versus 2026. Numbers are accurate through the end of the Athletics series.
Post Comment