quote:
It's a metric that only tells you how hard a ball is hit WHEN the hitter makes solid contact. It does not assure that he will square it up on any consistent basis. That's number 1: But, also, I didn't say that high exit velocity wasn't an indication of solid contact. That is what puzzles me the most about your last paragraph. I merely pointed out that you don't have to try to swing out of your shoes, if you allow the pitcher to provide the velocity and simply time your swings well, which, ultimately, is what it all comes down to. If the exit velocity is consistently high, THEN that tells you something about the quality of the hitter. But you don't need a radar gun to recognize quality contact. That's why the metric is useless, to me. Hayden Travinski hits the ball really hard in practice. I can't remember if he even had a hit in a game. Exit velo is just something for people to fawn over like pitchers who throw 100 MPH, but couldn't hit the ocean standing on a surf board.

I agree with 95% of what you are saying with the exception of the importance of pitch speed - it matters but not that much, hence the example. And yes, you definitely don't need a radar gun to gauge quality contact. In my experience, EV is a tool that a hitter can utilize to get instant feedback on a variety of metrics (in a training environment), which may or may not carry over to the game.

I am fortunate enough to be around some very elite hitting coaches almost every day with my son, and they always say execute the swing (i.e. barrel the ball) and the results will come, which is really common sense. The kids and pros we are around just use EV to measure their execution as it is easy for them to look at the metric instantly at our facilty.

Ultimately if a kid has a high EV it means they are doing something right with their mechanics. Now, if they don't execute in a game then that's on the kid and the coach...

Next time I'm in BR we'll have to meet up and discuss over a beer or two.