Swing away

I’m not a baseball coach or manager, but if I was, my players would not take on 3-0.

To me it’s the dumbest unwritten rule in all of coaching.

It’s been documented that in the major leagues between 91.5 and 94.5 times out of 100 it will be a fast ball right down the pipe.

Knowing what the pitch is is one of the top arrows in a hitter’s quiver.

So with the knowledge that it’s almost certainly going to be the heater coming right down the middle, take your cuts.

Same holds true for all of the college softball games I watched over the weekend.

3-0 counts meant fast ball down Broadway.

There are a few major league teams that are not automatically taking when it’s 3-0.

The 3-0 pitch has become the last great hitter’s count left in the entire game.

Last season 95 percent of the 3-0 count pitches were fastballs.

Comparatively, on 2-0 counts 72 percent were fastballs.

On 1-0 counts the number fell  to 60 percent.

The only count where a hitter can expect to see anywhere close to the percentage of fastballs they see in 3-0 counts is its closest relative, the 3-1 count.

Last year the Atlanta Braves were the most aggressive National League team swinging at 50 of the 231 3-0 counts they faced.

Only the Texas Rangers had a higher percentage of  swinging away at 3-0.