THREE CHEERS FOR PITCH COUNTS.

THREE CHEERS FOR PITCH COUNTS. ESPN on its Sunday night broadcast has been showing what a batter’s performance has been this year with that pitch count (e.g., with a two ball, one strike count, what his batting average has been for 2008 after a two ball, one strike count was reached). I think this is a wonderful idea. It highlights the struggle between hitter and pitcher on each at bat. Clay Davenport has a wonderful article in BASEBALL PROSPECTUS 2008 which compiles information for the average major league batter. I think that one of the things that Davenport’s figures show is that the decisive advantage for a pitcher is getting to two strikes on the hitter; for a batter the decisive advantage is getting to three balls. I think the intermediate counts can be ignored. With a three ball-two strike count, there is a rough balance between batter and pitcher.