2018 Scoresheets

Here it is, the long-awaited update to the 2013 Scoresheet!


Download from One Drive here

Okay, perhaps you haven't been waiting that long...

Updated Features include re-sized columns throughout, giving more room for players' names. I've also added notation for Game Score in the Pitchers faced section - there are two spaces for both versions of Game Score, if you're into that sort of thing.

Post with previous versions of Scoresheets is here.

Coming soon...some more "how-to" posts on Team RISP and Individual LOB.

As always, if you like my scoresheets and use them because you like them so much, please spread the word. I appreciate any and all useful feedback you can muster up.

For Those Of You Scoring At Home: Counting Pitches - Part Three

This is a continuous series of posts where I share some intermediate-to-advanced scorekeeping methods and tips.  The assumption here is that you’ve already made it through “Scorekeeping 101” and are working out ways to improve your skills and expand your enthusiasm for scorekeeping.  I’m also assuming you are using the current version of my customized scoresheet, which you can download for FREE, as I will use it for all of these examples unless otherwise specified.  Get your pencil ready, the game is about to start!

In Part One of this series, I demonstrated my methodology (and notation) for tracking pitches during a game using the current version of my customized scoresheet (you can download it for FREE right here).  In Part Two, I expanded upon this system to reveal my own method for using the same (or similar) notation to track the order of those pitches quickly, easily, and effectively. Before we go any further, it’s important that you revisit what was detailed in both of those posts, as I’m going to build on that for this final topic in the epic “Counting Pitches” trilogy…how to keep track of who’s pitching and to whom, and how to use the notation to tally their respective pitches on the scoresheet.

Wouldn’t life be simpler if, as in the olden days of yesteryear, a pitcher just stayed in the entire game and finish the job he started? Sure it would, but those days are so gone, we can’t even fathom what they were like…even among the geezerest of us all.  As the pitches throughout the game are being tracked with the notation system, part of the purpose of all of this documentation is to have a record of something above and beyond who pitched when. I want to look at a finished scoresheet and deduce, without unnecessary brain-cramp, when they pitched, who they faced, and of course, how many pitches – particularly, how many total pitches and how many of those pitches were strikes.

First of all, let’s revisit the area of the scoresheet in which I track the pitches (and the order of those pitches, if we are so inclined)…the “pitch boxes” found in each Plate Appearance Box; “balls” upstairs, “strikes” downstairs:

Also, if you will recall in Counting Pitches Part One, at the end of that post I briefly touched upon the methodology of counting the pitches, and provided an example of how this happened and where it goes on the scoresheet:

It was here that I first touched on the method of counting the marks in the “pitch box” area, plus what happens (the result of the PA) in the Plate Appearance box. For a 4-pitch walk, I’ll count the 3 notations in the “ball boxes” plus the final notation of “BB” as the fourth pitch; for an 0-2 home run, the 2 notations in the “strike boxes” plus the final notation of HR totals 3 pitches.

The main point in this example, is that the total pitches for each inning are perpetually additive, so where the pitch count in the first inning was 18-13 (18 pitches, 13 strikes) there were 14 pitches, 9 strikes in the 2^nd inning making the total recorded as 32-22 (which is 18 pitches + 14 pitches = 32 total pitches, and 13 strikes + 9 strikes = 22 total strikes). I also pointed out that regarding the balls in play that aren’t in or near the boxes that I’ve been counting as strikes, including the called strike 3 (or swinging strike 3, or ‘foul-tip-to-mitt-caught-for-strike-three,’ there is another type of pitch not recorded in or near those boxes that isn’t in play and still needs to be counted.  That type, of course, is a ball…and it usually happens on the 4^th ball of a walk (BB) or the ball that hits a batter (HP), even if one thinks that ball was a strike.

I’m not trying to beat this to death, but to me, counting inning-by-inning pitch counts in this manner is really important.  After a few innings of only recording totals for each inning only, you’ll need a calculator to understand what’s going on.  Doing it this way, you know how many total pitches have been thrown in 3 innings ‘just like that,’ and you can still tell the difference between one inning and another ‘on the fly’ (without a calculator), letting the fella sitting next to you at the game know “Verlander threw 38 pitches in that inning, only 14 in the previous inning” – even if that fella doesn’t give a darn about that.  For better reasons than that, when that pitcher is finished, his totals (pitches, strikes) are pretty much totaled up, without a calculator (which can spoil a good time at the game, you know).

Here’s the area on the scoresheet where the pitch counts are documented, there’s a big red arrow pointing right to it.  In the first inning (and more often than not, for a few innings afterward) the starting pitcher is on the mound.  Sure, that’s a very broad assumption, and one that dips into the realm of the “blinding flash of the obvious,” but stay with me on this:

I’ve also circled the spot where the pitcher’s jersey number is recorded.  Again, that’s not super important now, in regards to the starting pitcher, but it will be for those who relieve him.

Let’s go ahead and set up a game so I can start recording some of this.  It’s September 2, 2013; the last game of the season for the Louisville Bats as they wrap up a 2-game series against the visiting Indianapolis Indians – LHP Andy Oliver is starting for the Indians.

First Inning: Oliver retires the first 3 batters in order on a flyout to LF and 2 swinging strikeouts.  He does so with 17 pitches, 11 of them were strikes.

Second Inning: Mike Hessman doubles to start the inning, Oliver notches two more swinging strikeouts (one of them on a dropped 3^rd strike), he hits Nevin Ashley and gets Jason Donald to groundout to 3B. 19 pitches, 13 strikes in the inning, so the running total recorded in the pitch area box for the inning is 37 pitches, 24 strikes.

Everybody counts and adds differently, so here’s a tip from me: Instead of counting the pitches for the second inning separately, and then adding to the previous inning totals, I start counting the second inning from the last number counted in the first.  In the above example, I start counting with Oliver’s first pitch to Hessman as “18,” then go through all the pitches to come up with 37 as the total – then I start counting with Oliver’s first strike to Hessman as “12,” then go through all the strikes to come up with 24 total. You can do whatever you want, but there’s only so much time between innings, and personally I don’t like to get behind on this during the game. So, here’s the “running count” for the second inning detail above:

For the third inning, then, Oliver  faces 4 batters, allowing a single and striking out three (all swinging, impressive!) for a total of 52 pitches, 36 strikes so far (over 3 innings of work).

In the fourth inning, Oliver walks Hessman on 5 pitches, then retires the next two batters he faces on popouts, both to the second baseman.  Suddenly, things get weird – the skies open up, torrential rains occur, and the game is held up on a rain delay.  The call is made as Oliver has a 1-0 count on Ashley; I’m a good scorekeeper so I record the time the rain delay started to the left of the PA box.

As the delay approaches the hour mark, one can be sure that once play resumes, there will certainly be a new pitcher. After an hour and 30 minutes, Ryan Reid starts warming up, and it’s official…a rain delay-forced pitching change!

This is an unorthodox manner in which to change pitchers during an inning, especially since it’s occurring in the middle of an at bat, but these things do happen, so this is a great opportunity to demonstrate the notation and methodology.

First things first, I need to “close” Oliver’s account on the scoresheet.  I can’t finalize all of his line score stats, as he is responsible for the runner on first, but I can record what I know now, as well as tally up his final pitch count and add the appropriate graphic notation on the scoresheet so it is apparent when he finished pitching and when the new pitcher took over. Oliver’s final pitch count goes where I’ve been recording it, I’m going to leave some room to the right and add a backwards slash that creeps into the area right above it.

To the left of the PA box, I make a note that Oliver’s count ended with 1-0 (I’m doing this right above my rain delay notation). Since the change is occurring during an AB, at the top of the PA box I record Oliver’s jersey number (41), then a slash with the new pitcher’s jersey number (43).  I also record Oliver’s jersey number only (not Reid’s…at least not yet) in the upper left hand corner of the box above the “pitch count area” that hasn’t been used for anything up to this point.

You can get creative with your own notation, but the rule to follow is simple: whatever you come up with, you need to be able to remember how you did it again and again. For any of my scoresheets where a pitcher changes during an AB, for whatever reason, I follow the same protocol consistently…thus avoiding the “uh, what the hell was this all about” many years later when I’m recalling this game via the document. Some situations arise only once in a blue moon; simplicity and consistency are important.

The game resumes at 4:01pm, I add this to my rain delay notes to the left of Ashley’s AB box and record the total time of the delay. Reid strikes out Ashley on 3 pitches (all of them strikes) to end the inning.  Oliver’s line score can now be closed out, and so can the other totals for the inning (Runs, Hits, Errors, LOB). I record Reid’s total pitch count on the line right above the pitch area box, adjacent to the backslash I left hanging up a little bit, and I also record his jersey number in the upper right hand corner, on the opposite side of Oliver’s number.

Now all this funkiness is as clear as glass on the scoresheet. With traditional scorekeeping methods, tracking this single event would require copious handwritten notes that would threaten to destroy the flow of the scoresheet. With my method, everything is documented cleanly and accurately.  Here’s what we know, just by looking at the detail featured above:

·        41 Andy Oliver faced 15 batters, threw 69 pitches (43 strikes)

·        At the 1-0 count for the 16^th batter he faced, rain delay called at 2:17pm

·        Game resumed at 4:01, at which time 43 Ryan Reid replaced him

·        43 Ryan Reid finished the inning facing 1 batter, threw 3 pitches (3 strikes)

So in that large, previously unused area, it can now be revealed that this is an important method of recording who is pitching and when they are pitching.  Remember, to start the game I didn’t record Oliver’s jersey number up there…he’s the starting pitcher, the “Pitchers Faced” log below indicates this so it isn’t necessary (however, feel free to record his number if you want, in that area at the start of the game…it’s redundant, but that doesn’t really matter).  In the 4^th Inning, in that same area, his number in the upper left corner indicates that he was the pitcher that started that inning. Reid’s number in the upper right corner indicates that he was the pitcher that ended the inning.

Now that I’ve introduced this method of notation, I can carry this through the rest of the game and identify who pitched when, what their pitch count was, and easily identify pertinent info to tally each pitcher’s line score. I detailed one “dotted line” to illustrate this, I’m sure you can visualize the rest…Reid stayed in for the 5^th inning, then was relieved by Graham Godfrey, and so on so forth.

I know you’re rubbing your eyes right now, yes that is Matt Hague brought in during the 9^th inning (in a SAVE situation, no less), who allowed a walk-off Grand Slam to Denis Phipps to end the game. Baseball is crazy, especially Minor League Baseball on the last day of the season, after September callups.

Here are the completed scoresheets for this game.

Now, let’s look at a more traditional pitching change during an inning…it works very much the same way, but with one distinct difference. For this example, let’s go back to Busch Stadium in St Louis, MO, for the 2013 World Series Game 3.  Yes, that’s the game that ended with an obstruction call.  It’s the bottom of the 7^th inning; Jake Peavy started the game, went 4 innings – he threw 63 pitches (43 strikes) and was relieved in the 5^th inning by Felix Doubront, who worked 2 innings, throwing 25 pitches (15 strikes).  The game is tied 2-2, and Craig Breslow is on the mound now, his jersey number is 32 and he’s facing the top of the order.

Breslow faces 2 batters; Matt Carpenter who reaches on a single to SS, and Carlos Beltran who is hit by the first pitch he sees.  Two men on, nobody out; John Farrell decides he has had enough of Breslow’s heroics and brings in Junichi Tazawa to face the righty Matt Holliday.  Before Tazawa is ready to strike, I need to finalize whatever information I can on the scoresheet…which happens to be Breslow’s pitch totals and all of his line score except for the R/ER.

I record his pitch totals in the pitch area, add the backwards slash, but I don’t record Tazawa’s number in the upper right corner yet.  Why? Because he, too, may be relieved by another pitcher…I don’t know yet for sure.  I do know that I need to indicate somehow that Beltran was the last batter Breslow faced, and that Holliday will be the first batter that Tazawa will face.

I’m going to do this in between Beltran’s and Holliday’s AB boxes.  I’m going to do it with a backward slash that “joins” both boxes – in Beltran’s AB box zone, I record Breslow’s jersey number, and in Holliday’s AB box zone, I record Tazawa’s.

Now it’s very clear…Breslow faced Carpenter and Beltran, and Tazawa is taking over. KaBOOM!!

Let’s continue…Holliday doubles, driving in Carpenter and Beltran (Holliday to 3B on the throw).  Well, THAT worked out, didn’t it? Tazawa strikes out Matt Adams and Yadier Molina, walks David Freese (who is replaced by a pinch runner, Daniel Descalso), and the inning ends when John Jay flies out to CF. Now I’m going to update the pitch area with this information. This is what the AB boxes look like.

At a glance, it’s apparent that Breslow is responsible for the two runs that did score…again, having the jersey numbers between the AB boxes provides a quick graphic reference of the pitching change, what happened before it, and what happened after it. I included a second graphic of the same AB boxes (with red border) to illustrate the work of both pitchers.

I update the pitch detail area with Tazawa’s jersey number in the upper right corner, add his total pitch count.  In the Runs/Hits/Errors/LOB fields, the total for the inning is updated, as is Breslow’s line score (but not Tazawa’s yet…he might stay in the the next inning…at a minimum, I’ve recorded what he did this inning in the AB boxes and pitch detail area, but I’m going to leave his line score alone until I know how the bottom of the 8^th is going to start).

For a moment, don’t look at the AB boxes…just focus on the pitch area detail.  Breslow (32) is on the left (started), Tazawa (36) is on the right. Piece of cake.  Two pitchers in the inning, 2 runs, 2 hits, 0 errors, 0 left on base.

Who allowed the hits? Who is charged with the runs? Now you can look at the AB boxes again. Fantastic!!

If Tazawa stays in for the 8^th inning, I don’t have to “carry over” his jersey number or anything…just his running pitch count total. As it turns out, Brandon Workman takes the mound for the bottom of the 8^th, so his number goes in the upper left corner, I finalize his line score, and start anew with his pitch count totals.

It gets a little messier for 3 pitchers in an inning, but still very manageable.  From the same game, but the top of previous inning:

Starter Joe Kelly (58) faced two batters, was replaced by the LOOGY Randy Choate (36) for one batter and didn’t record an out, then was replaced by Seth Maness (61). Once again, I included a second graphic (with red border) of the same AB boxes to illustrate the work of all three pitchers, as indicated by the notation between the AB boxes.

As it was with one pitching change, the pitch detail area looks similar when there are two pitching changes…room is at a premium, but heck…now that you know what you’re looking at, it unfolds like a neat little story.

This graphic notation method really helps out when working out the line score! One no longer has to rely on their memory…let the scoresheet do the work!!

I’d show you what 4 pitchers in an inning looks like, but I don’t want your head to explode.

Here are the completed scoresheets for this game:

This concludes the “Counting Pitches” trilogy for this series, good luck!!

Coming up Next: 
Tracking Team RISP - It's Trickier Than You Might Think

If there are any topics you’d like to see covered in future installments, please let me know here (via comment) or connect with me on Twitter or Facebook!

Here’s hoping I’ll see you at the ball game, and if I do…be sure you have plenty of sunscreen on!!

Baseball is BACK!! Are YOU ready?!?

...of course, it never really left!!

Ah, yes, OPENING WEEK!! As we collectively celebrate the END of the Winter that just wouldn't go away, and the BEGINNING of the "games that matter," I wanted to remind you that as a part of your preparation, be sure and have plenty of copies of my custom scoresheet on hand!

You can download it HERE - for free!!

Also, this season I will be continuing my intermediate scorekeeping series, "For Those Of You Scoring At Home" - a selection of topics beyond the "first steps" of the art of scorekeeping, aligned for use with the scoresheets I've designed.  In 2013 I started with "Counting Pitches" and very soon I'll be wrapping up that trilogy and moving on to new stuff!!

In case you missed them:
Part One (tracking balls, strikes, and pitch counts)
Part Two (tracking pitches in order)

Counting Pitches: Part Three will detail keeping track of pitchers and pitching changes!

Future entries in the series will cover movement around the bases, graphic depiction of batted ball behavior, tracking and calculating RISP, and a variety of unusual scoring decisions & rules.

If you have any ideas for topics to cover, or any other crazy questions, please let me know! I want to be YOUR source for scorekeeping insanity!!

You can leave a comment here, or you can contact me on twitter or facebook!!

For Those Of You Scoring At Home: Counting Pitches - Part Two

Presenting a new (and now, continuing) series of posts where I share some intermediate-to-advanced scorekeeping methods and tips.  The assumption here is that you’ve already made it through “Scorekeeping 101” and are working out ways to improve your skills and expand your enthusiasm for scorekeeping.  I’m also assuming you are using the current version of my customized scoresheet, which you can download for FREE, as I will use it for all of these examples unless otherwise specified.  Get your pencil ready, the game is about to start!

In Part One of this series, I demonstrated my methodology (and notation) for tracking pitches during a game using the current version of my customized scoresheet (you can download it for FREE right here).  Before we go any further, it’s important that you revisit what was detailed in that post, as I’m going to build on that for this topic…how to accurately track the order of pitches, and do it quickly and easily.

This isn't necessarily ground-breaking stuff, I’m sure, but I feel it is still rather unique…when I hinted that this topic would be covered in this installment of the series, I received a great deal of feedback, most of it consisting of anticipation.  When I developed and practiced my notation, I did so hoping that someday I could use it to track the pitch order, thereby beginning with the end in mind.  It was a process that, very much like looking for your lost car keys, was a little bit frustrating…trial and error was confusing, and mostly ending up in the “this is too complicated, and I’ll never be able to do this real time so it’ll never work” bucket.  I’m happy to report that the solution was, quite literally, right in front of me the whole time; so now, I’ll get it in front of you.

For the record, the Project Scoresheet method allows the scorekeeper to track pitch order to some extent; however, I’m still digging into this myself, so I’m not ready to discuss that at this point in time.

As I stated in the previous post, counting pitches is both a necessary aspect of solid scorekeeping, and a useful tool to support the recounting of a variety of events within any baseball game.  For a variety of reasons, most of them specific to the scorekeeper’s individual needs, the order of the pitches is a critical aspect of the documentation process and the data can reveal a great deal of information that is enlightening and often revelatory in nature.

This is a high-brow way of saying, when your game announcer proclaims “Volquez is on fire tonight, he’s thrown 11 first-pitch strikes in 4 innings of work, that’s exactly what Bud Black is looking for from his starter” you can shower yourself in pride by exclaiming “YES, I am fully aware of this!!”

A quick recap of the specific areas of the scoresheet that will be used, as well as the previous notation, is in order.  Here are the “pitch boxes” found in each Plate Appearance Box; “balls” upstairs, “strikes” downstairs:

Remember when I casually stated that the intent of the boxes to be used from left-to-right would be important later?  Later is now.

It should be second nature to the intermediate scorekeeper to start with the first pitch, whether it’s a ball or a strike, in the appropriate box at the farthest left-hand side.  The order and orientation will help us record the pitches in order, and be able to interpret the notation quickly.  

I’m going to use the same notation previously used, but only in the “strike” boxes.  I will no longer use the “forward slash” in the “balls” boxes, and I also won’t be using the “X” for foul strikes outside the “strike” boxes.  Instead, I’m going to use numbers in those areas.  HOOAH! NUMBERS!

This is where I wink at you and chuckle a little bit, I told you this was simple!

This is going to look like one of those Logic Puzzles, where you are presented with a series of numbers and symbols and are asked to determine the numbers that are represented by the symbols.

If I asked you to determine what numbers are represented by the symbols in this series above are, you would smugly reply “3, 5, and 6 respectively.”  So far, so good.

The pattern above is not much different than this one:

The symbols are different, but you can also determine that the two dots are, respectively, 3 and 5; and that the “x” is 6. 

Yes, it’s true.  1,2, 4, and 7 are balls – the dots (hinomaru) are called strikes – the “x” is a foul strike…and they are all in the order in which they appeared!

Pitch #1: Ball (1-0)

Pitch #2: Ball (2-0)

Pitch #3: Called Strike (2-1)

Pitch #4: Ball (3-0)

Pitch #5: Called Strike (3-2)

Pitch #6: Foul Strike (3-2)

Pitch #7: Ball (the batter takes his base)

This is precisely how I am going to document each pitch, type of pitch, and the order the pitch was offered without having to redesign my scoresheet, or having to write this stuff down on a separate piece of paper.  While we are still having the time of our lives, let’s commit this philosophical approach in a live fire exercise!  We’ll use actual game data from the top of the 1^st inning at Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, KY where the Durham Bulls’ top of the order is facing Louisville Bats starting pitcher Pedro Villareal on June 10, 2013.  The scoresheet is all set up with the starting lineups, and we are ready to go!

Lead-off batter Brandon Guyer steps into the box, and Villareal’s first pitch is taken for a strike.  The hinomaru appears in the first “strike” box on the left, same practice we've been accustomed to.  The count is 0-1.

Guyer hits a line drive single to the left of Shortstop Emmanuel Burriss’ ear holes that drops for a base hit.

Jason Bourgeois is next, he fouls off Villareal’s first pitch.  The “X” goes in the first “strike” box on the left.  The count is 0-1.

Bourgeois shows bunt, and again fouls off Villareal’s second pitch.  The “X” goes in the second “strike” box from the left, I circled it to indicate a bunt was either shown and/or executed.  バントを指定!! The count is 0-2.

Hang on, here comes the GOOD STUFF.

Villareal’s next offering (his third pitch of the at bat) if fouled off again.  Bourgeois has Pedro’s number, it seems, but it’s still early.  The count remains 0-2; but I’m not going to mark an “X” to the right of the second “strike” box as I would have done before…I’m going to write a number “3” = for the third pitch of the at bat.

Take a moment and look at the graphic data ‘real quick’…3 pitches, 3 strikes, all of them foul strikes, from left to right.  Where the “X” was used before, ad nauseum, for each foul strike recorded outside of the strike boxes, I will use numbers for them all, and each of those numbers will correspond with the order of the pitch as delivered.

Why then, is the “X” still used in the “strike” boxes? And the hinomaru as well?  The first two strikes will always be those types of strikes, plus the swinging strike.  The called strike and swinging strike will never occur outside of the two strike boxes, only the foul strikes will…therefore, the “X” notation is assumed for those strikes “outside of the box,” always.  Sure, I could keep using them, but then I will lose count.  This will be more evident as we proceed, but for now think about the simple logic puzzle I presented earlier.  There are going to be pitches in our sequence where a number must be indicated, otherwise the puzzle can’t be deciphered quickly and accurately.  The type of pitches in strike boxes one and two can be any of 3 different types, but outside the “strike” boxes, and in the “ball” boxes as well, the type of pitch will always be either a “ball” or a “foul strike.”

Moving on with Bourgeois’ at bat, Villareal throws outside for a ball.  The count is 1-2; as I just explained, anything in the “ball” boxes will always be a ball, so the forward slash notation is no longer needed…it will always be a number, and for this fourth pitch of the at bat, that number is going to be a 4.

Stating the obvious: 4 pitches so far, and the order is strike-strike-strike-ball.

Bourgeois fouls off Villareal’s fifth pitch in the at bat, the count is still 1-2.  For this foul strike, the number “5” is recorded in the area to the right of the “strike” boxes, right next to the number “3.”

Villareal’s sixth pitch finds Bourgeois’ bat, as he flies out to right fielder Denis Phipps to record the first out of the game.  The at bat ends with a count of 1-2, 6 pitches total…we know the types of pitches, the order in which they were dealt with, and the results are unanimous…this is great, and it’s easy to document and interpret quickly!!

Here’s what this would have looked like on the scoresheet, using just notation and not tracking the order:

It was fantastic to see all of the pitches the way the notation was used before, but now that the order can be tracked, the “old way” doesn't really tell the same story.  It can’t be determined that the first pitch of the at bat was a strike, and it also can’t be determined that the first pitch out of the zone didn't happen until the fourth pitch.  That’s like hypnotizing chickens!!

The Designated Hitter Vince Belnome, is next, batting third.  Guyer is still hanging around on first base.  Belnome steps into the box on the left-hand side of the plate, and takes Villareal’s first pitch for a ball.  The count is 1-0, the number “1” appears in the first “ball” box to indicate this.

Belnome takes the next pitch for a ball as well, the count is 2-0.  2 pitches, 2 balls, number 1 and number 2, from left to right.

Villareal’s third pitch is nodded off by Belnome.  The count is 3-0.

Belnome fouls off the fourth pitch of the at bat; I mark this one as an “X” in the very first “strike” box.  The count is 3-1. 

Villareal offers something Belnome really likes, he swings and misses for strike 2.  When he does so, that clever speedster Brandon Guyer swipes second base effortlessly, without a throw.  The forward slash goes in the second “strike” box; the count is full.  I also notate Guyer’s SB, indicating that it happened while Belnome was at the plate (SB 34)…because he stole the bag on Villareal’s 3-1 pitch, I add this detail to the PA box to the right of Guyer’s.

Think about this one more time.  Previously, with the “ball” boxes full of slashes and the “strike” boxes occupied with an “X” and a forward slash, all that really told us was that at this point, Belnome worked a full count here.  Now, with the number notation, a little bit more is known…Belnome actually worked from a 3-0 count to a full count in the space of two pitches.  Depending on your need and what the scorer does with this information, that’s a pretty significant change in the story, don’t you think?

Belnome fouls off Villareal’s sixth pitch of the at bat.  Now that we know the order, it’s clear that Belnome went from passive to aggressive during this plate appearance!  The number “6” is recorded in the area just outside of the “strike” boxes, as I did during Bourgeois’ at bat. 

I already know that any number there indicates a foul strike (just as any number in the “ball” boxes indicates a ball) and just as the guy sitting in the row in front of me says “I wonder how many pitches this guy has seen?” I blurt out “SIX” because I’m counting them, and I’m counting them with numbers.

Belnome hits a nearly sky-high fly ball to shallow left field, Felix Perez cradles it for out number two.  Seven pitches in that at bat!  If you glance at the previous two batters, and just briefly count the number of marks you've made, you can blurt out that Villareal has thrown 2+6+7 = 15 pitches in this inning so far, no big whoop…and you can also blurt out that he’s thrown a total of two first pitch strikes so far! Nice!!

Belnome also becomes the first player of the game to bat with runners in scoring position, he’s 0-for-1 in Team RISP…I will cover this in a future post!

The indefatigable future baseball superstar Wil Myers, batting cleanup for the Bulls, steps into the batter’s box.  Ahem.  Guyer is still in scoring position with 2 outs.  Myers takes Villareal’s first pitch for a ball.  The count is 1-0, Villareal has thrown 2 first pitch strikes to 4 batters so far.

Myers fouls off Villareal’s second pitch of the at bat, the count is 1-1.  Again, I use the “X” in the appropriate “strike” box.

The third pitch: swingandamiss! Myers is behind in the count 1-2.  Forward slash in “strike” box number 2!

Myers lays off the fourth pitch and takes it for a ball; the number “4” goes in the appropriate “ball” box, the count is 2-2. 

This particular at bat, in terms of count, order, and notation, is probably the best practical example so far of the way the premise of the simple logic puzzle that started this discussion works the best…and also proves out its ease of use in this application.  While the document is being generated, the notation is simple; after the fact, interpretation is just as easy!  You should now be able to look at the at bat in two different ways: first, as a 2-2 count and second, in the precise order of events – ball-strike-strike-ball.

Now that Villareal knows what pitches Myers likes the best, he gets him to swing and miss on the fifth pitch of the at bat to record the third and final out of the inning.

Myers joins Belnome in the 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position club, the Team RISP so far is 0-2. He is also the first player to get a mark in the “Runners in Scoring Position with 2 Outs” category.

Counting the pitches, as before, Villareal threw 20 pitches total, 14 for strikes.  Of those 14 strikes, 10 of them saw contact.  Now, we know a few more things:

• Villareal is 2-4 in throwing first pitch strikes
• 2 of the 4 at bats ended with a “pitcher’s count,” which is good for Villareal (even though one of them ended with a base hit)
• One batter came from behind a “batter’s count” to work a full count (Belnome), one batter saw 3 strikes before he saw a ball (Bourgeois), etc

There are a lot more “stories” just from this inning that can be gleaned from the new order notation, all of them are important but the very last bullet above is the most significant as the scorekeeper can derive a plethora of analysis, either during the game or 10 years later, all from this document.  It’s a lot like acquiring a copy of the Annotated Complete Works of Arthur Conan Doyle; very little detail is lost in context and external research for this event is intensely minimized.

This certainly isn’t the “final frontier” of pitch tracking on scoresheets, but this revised method and notation (in my opinion, at least) covers a larger gap of data substance between simply counting them and counting them with the order that I was sure was there, but really had no idea until I tried it and it worked.  This aspect of enjoying the game, for me, has been enriched beyond my personal expectations.

The ease of use and learning curve is also astonishing.  After only one trial game, I found myself slipping into this updated methodology in a more comfortable fashion than I did when I first started counting pitches altogether.  Granted, I had been counting pitches for several years, but I still believe that the process took hold in my brain so effortlessly that I still find myself shaking my head in disbelief that I never thought of this sooner!!  After 20-or-so games of applying this method to counting pitches, I only slipped back to the previous method one time, and I caught myself doing so during the at bat in which it happened.

Here are my completed scoresheets for this game in its entirety, with complete use of this notation, all pitches counted and recorded, and all pitch order tracked. 

I’m certain that you are ready to try this immediately; however, I want to revisit one treasure box from this updated method very briefly…let’s take another look at first pitch strikes.

These are from another Louisville Bats game at Louisville Slugger Field; this time the Columbus Clippers are in town and the remarkable Tony Cingrani is starting for the Bats.  If you aren’t familiar with Cingrani, he’s a really damn good pitcher.  I wanted to use this game as an example of how the scorekeeper can readily identify first pitch strikes for point of discussion or analysis, using the new updated notation technique.

In a matter of a few minutes, I can look at both completed scoresheets and build whatever narrative I deem necessary from not only the pitch counts, but the pitch order itself.  Beyond the final score and the lines and who hit a dinger and how many ribbies what part of the order produced, if you weigh first pitch strikes as more of a pitcher efficiency exercise and less of an eager-beaver approach by the batters, there’s a lot going on here.  Focusing on pitcher efficiency, let’s start by looking at Cingrani (5 innings) and the rest of the Bats bullpen staff (3 innings) and compare their efforts in regards to first pitch strikes!

This is how easy it is…any PA box that does not have a number “1” in it, that’s a first pitch strike! BAM! I don’t even have to think at this point!

I would have to think about it if the first pitch hits a batter, though…that isn’t a first pitch strike.

Tony Cingrani, first pitch strike percentage = .652

1^st: 3-3 (3 total)

2^nd: 4-6 (7 total, 7-9 overall)

3^rd: 4-7 (11 total, 11-16 overall)

4^th: 1-3 (12 total, 12-19 overall)

5^th: 3-4 (15 total, 15-23 overall)

Mike MacDougal, first pitch strike percentage = .166

6^th: 1-3 (1 total)

7^th: 0-3 (1 total, 1-6 overall)

Chad Reineke, first pitch strike percentage = .444

7^th: 2-2 (2 total)

8^th: 1-3 (3 total, 3-5 overall)

9^th: 1-4 (4 total, 4-9 overall)

MacDougal and Reineke are easy to compare, both having faced less than 10 batters but more than 5.  Cingrani’s results are awesome, even without a textbook for comparison.  I don’t have a baseline metric for what an optimal first strike percentage is, for relievers or for starters,  but with enough completed scoresheets in hand with this type of notation, and perhaps some data on WARP and FIP to do some on-the-fly correlation, think about the possibilities of expanding this data just for yucks!! I love it!

The Bats beat the Clippers 5-2, Cingrani got the W, and the Bats pitching staff recorded a whopping 16 strikeouts in this game (and also 6 walks).  Let’s look at Clippers starting pitcher T.J. House (who went the 8-inning distance) and compare his first strike percentage.

T.J. House, first strike percentage = .696

1^st: 3-4 (3 total)

2^nd: 3-4 (6 total, 6-8 overall)

3^rd: 3-3 (9 total, 9-11 overall)

4^th: 2-3 (11 total, 11-14 overall)

5^th: 4-6 (15 total, 15-20 overall)

6^th: 3-6 (18 total, 18-26 overall)

7^th: 3-3 (21 total, 21-29 overall)

8^th: 2-4 (23 total, 23-33 overall)

By a few percentage points, House’ first strike percentage was slightly better than Cingrani’s.  It’s also notable that House’s consistency in this respect was very good, even as he went on for more innings, yet fewer pitches than Cingrani (Tony’s pitch count was blown out a bit by the 5 walks he issued, yet House only struck out four batters).

No conclusion intended here, I’m only sharing my brain with you as I start to gleefully disseminate all of the joy and fun that a scorekeeper can experience with this method (particularly a scorekeeper who espouses the philosophy of intermediate baseball analysis at this level of detail).  Just imagine, for instance, applying a modifier to Bill James’ Game Score that awards a pitcher points for first pitch strikes, or for getting from behind in counts!

Developing these new practices and continuous efforts to improve my personal application of the craft of scorekeeping is one of the most exciting things about this activity.  I always try to break new ground every season, and I’m not too proud to say that cracking this particular nut is probably the most significant self-improvement I’ve made, and at the same time the easiest change I’ve ever had to make.  It is my honor and pleasure to share it with you!

If you have any questions or comments, leave a note below, or follow me on twitter (@yoshiki89) and let’s talk about scorekeeping!

Coming up next:

Part Three: Who’s pitching now?

The conclusion of counting pitches; what notation I use on how to keep track of who’s pitching, and how to tally their pitches on the scoresheet.