by jonriv » Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:58 am
High School stats-even when accurate, are not always a great way of judging talent. There is a good reason why college coaches pay little to no attention to them. They are too small a sample size-20-30 games and the competition varies to much. Too easy to compile against much weaker opponents.
Case in point. My league my DD's former HS was in has 18 teams.
1) 6-8 of those teams are terrible almost every year- only beat each other
2) 8-12 of those teams are mediocre(they only beat the lousy teams and each other)
3) 4-6 teams are top teams- they usually only lose(if at all) to another top team
Top teams almost never play their top players against the perennial lousy teams. They use it as a chance to play bench and JV players. Lower and mediocre teams play their top players against each other-they need wins. Many players from mediocre and lower teams have gaudy numbers/stats, but when you break them down- you see sometimes most if not all of their hits are against the terrible teams- while some of the top players only face the better teams.
- I am sure that this describes leagues across the country
This past season- my DD's former HS team had two pitchers. They pitched the number 1 versus top & mediocre teams-pitcher 2 against only the weaker teams. #2 had more wins, more K's etc....., but guess who was the better pitcher.
My DD's TB coach who was also coach of a State Championship team did not even dress his starters against the weaker teams(BTW he lost a game to Fico's team 1-0 after 11 inning- she struck out 31 of 33 batters) He still does not post stats on maxpreps for the following reasons
1) Other teams scout the stats
2) Most importantly- parents look at them. "I don't need a parent telling me their daughter is an all-star and should be starting because she went 4 for 4 against some Bridgeport team"
The stats are fun, but they are nothing to get crazy about. Good players will always get left off of these lists- there are just too many players to pick from. Some teams will not post the stats, some will inflate them, and even the accurate one's may not mean as much as we think.