MMV #048: The #1 Stat Every Coach and Player Should Track

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Read time: 3 minutes

There are so many stats you can look at to measure performance.

It can be overwhelming and hard to sift through what matters.

Today I want to show you my favorite stat for all levels.

It's such an important stat, I would argue it's the #1 stat EVERY coach should use.

It is called Early and Ahead (E+A%).

E+A is the STRONGEST predictor of walks.

So what is early and ahead?

It is essentially 2 stats in 1.

Let's start with Early.

Early:

Anytime the ball is put in play on 3 pitches or less (except 2-0), regardless of the result.

It can be a home run and it counts as an early.

There can be an error and it still counts.

The result does not matter for this.

Ahead:

Anytime an 0-2 or 1-2 count is achieved.

Once again it does not matter what happens after that.

You could end up walking the batter or giving up a hit and it would still count as an ahead.

Every at bat results in an early, ahead, or nothing.

There can only be one result per at bat.

For example, if you strike a batter out on 3 pitches, that counts as an ahead, not an early.

Also, if you get to 0-2 and then throw a ball, you don’t get credit for 2 aheads in the same AB.

To find your E+A%, add up all the early and aheads and divide by batters faced.

Average E+A% by level:

D1 - 68.9%

MiLB - 69.1%

MLB - 72.7%

You can also split them into individual stats.

Pitchers that have a high ahead% are likely striking out a lot of batters.

MLB averages:

Early - 33.2%

Ahead - 39.5%

The E+A% goal for most players is 70%, but the best of the best are 75%+.

2023 E+A% Leaders (100 innings min.)

1. George Kirby 84% (2.5% BB)
2. Logan Gilbert 80.9% (4.7% BB)
3. Joe Ryan 80.8% (5.1% BB)

2023 E+A% Bottom Tier (100 innings min.)

1. Tylor Megill 66% (10.2% BB)
2. Blake Snell 65% (13.3% BB)
3. Michael Kopech 63.6% (15.4% BB)

For perspective, the MLB average walk rate is 8.6%.

My favorite part about this stat is it can be used at the amateur and professional levels.

Increase your E+A% and watch your walks go down.

Looking for a template to track early and ahead? 

Click here to download my free team tracking sheet.

That's all for today.

See you next week!

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