uHIT Custom and Year-Over-Year Changes

Division I Hitter Case Studies

 August 15, 2023

Division I Hitter Case Studies

Multi-Year Gains in Training and Game Performance

Colorado State University (CSU) Softball started using uHIT Custom ahead of the 2022 season. This was a limited trial in terms of the number of players (10). We saw successful results with the trial group and you can read more about that here. In 2023, CSU devoted more resources and practice time to uHIT Custom. In this case study, we will look at players who continued from the trial year and some new players whose on-field results we got to see in 2023.

Want to run the numbers yourself? Check out Colorado State’s 2022 and 2023 numbers on-field here.

Players Returning to uHIT Custom

First, we will look at hitters who used uHIT Custom in the trial group of the 2022 season, and then returned to it in 2023. The trial group did their assessments in February 2022 (see more about uHIT Assessment Baselines here). They did uHIT Custom through the end of April 2022 and this was the end of the trial use. CSU finished their season mid-May and then returned to uHIT Custom the following mid-August 2022 with more players (20). They used it through the fall training season to mid-December 2022. They picked up again mid-January after winter break and then used uHIT Custom through the end of their 2023 season. Below, we will look at several players at key sections of these two seasons.

Ashley York

2021

Ashley had a banner year in 2023. She was All-Conference First Team (Mountain West Conference) and led the team in OPS, Hits, SLG, OBP and tied for Runs. Going back to her 2021 season, it was a different picture. Let’s revisit that season first: she was hitting with an OPS of 0.742 and SLG of 0.429 (we will summarize her offensive output with just these numbers, but full details available here).

2022

Just ahead of the 2022 season, she began uHIT Custom and assessed at:

• 14.5 XP / Pitch
• 46% Accuracy
• 0.511secs Reaction Time

By the end of her 2022 season, she pulled her uHIT numbers in pitch recognition up to the following:

• 36.1 XP / Pitch
• 54% Accuracy
• 0.486secs Reaction Time

On-field in 2022, Ashley hit with an OPS of 0.843 and SLG of 0.484. Focusing on top-line numbers, she gains over 20 XP / Pitch in uHIT and those improvements in seeing pitches better happened with over a 100 point gain in OPS.

But she still had room to grow in her pitch recognition skills and we were excited to get back to working with her in 2023. For instance, although she had a 20+ XP / Pitch gain in 2022, an Accuracy of 54% shows that a hitter has plenty of room for growth in terms of discriminating pitch types better. Her Reaction Time boost from assessment to end-of-season (0.511secs to 0.486secs) helped her XP / Pitch, but we saw a big opportunity for growth in Accuracy for 2023.

2023 on uHIT Custom

Here, we look at the jump from having a good year in 2022 to being All-Conference 1st team in 2023. Coming into fall 2022, we knew Ashley was picking up again at the numbers quoted above (36.1 XP / Pitch and 54% Accuracy). Our mission that fall and into the 2023 season was to improve those numbers, particularly focusing on Accuracy. We thought this would be the best route to boosting her hitting, particularly keeping OPS in mind as our top-line indicator.

After 2022-23, Ashley’s uHIT Custom numbers looked as follows:

• 60.1 XP / Pitch
• 63% Accuracy
• 0.484secs Reaction Time

She almost doubled her XP / Pitch in only one season. How did she do that? She focused on optimizing her decisions for more accurately identifying different pitch types (up to 63% from 54% the season before). Ashley allowed the AI in uHIT Custom to adjust pitch speeds and breaks so that she was appropriately challenged. She learned to see the pitch types better (riseball, curveball and dropball). And she barely changed the amount of time she needs to decide (0.484secs from 0.486secs the season before). And what did these gains correspond with on the field?

2023 on the Field

In 2023, we know Ashley was the team leader in OPS (1.007). Her route to that domination at the plate came through more extra-base hits (SLG went from 0.484 to .574) and a nearly 400% reduction in her strikeout-to-walks (3.8 in 2022 to 0.9 in 2023). Not surprisingly, her OBP also went up in 2023 (0.433 from 0.359 the season before). All of these things happened on-field while her ability to see pitch types improved in uHIT Custom. We saw gains from one season without uHIT Custom to one with it (2021 to 2022). We then saw even more gains when returning to that work where there was room for improvement (2022 to 2023).

Peyton Allen

2021 to 2022

Peyton has been the leading starter in using uHIT Custom over two seasons (1830 pitches in training pitch recognition). In those two seasons, we’ve seen consistent gains in both her uHIT and on-field performance. Let’s begin with her 2021 season results as a baseline. She hit with an OPS of 0.688 and SLG of 0.375 (as above, more details behind these numbers are available here). Just ahead of the 2022 season, she began uHIT Custom and assessed at:

• 54.3 XP / Pitch
• 67% Accuracy
• 0.556secs Reaction Time

By the end of her 2022 season, she pulled her uHIT numbers in pitch recognition up to the following:

• 106.5 XP / Pitch
• 88% Accuracy
• 0.479secs Reaction Time

On-field in 2022, Peyton hit with an OPS of 0.842 and SLG of 0.496. Focusing on top-line numbers, she nearly doubled XP / Pitch in uHIT and those improvements coincided with over a 150 point gain in OPS.

Compared to Ashley above, Peyton was in a very different position. For starters, Peyton was really mastering pitch recognition in uHIT, especially in terms of Accuracy. Where could the growth come from in the next season? She was already doing well in Accuracy (88%), so she could only stand to gain a little there. For instance, her Accuracy improvement (67% to 88%) was a major factor in her XP / Pitch going up by over 50 points. But her Reaction Time boost from assessment to end-of-season (0.556secs to 0.479secs) helped her XP / Pitch too. Knowing from Ashley’s Reaction Time (see above) and others’, we saw an opportunity for growth there for 2023.

2023 on uHIT Custom

Here, we look at the jump from having a good year in 2022 to joining her All-Conference teammates in 2023 being a team leader in OPS. Coming into fall 2022, we knew Peyton was picking up again at the numbers quoted above (106.5 XP / Pitch and 0.479secs Reaction Time). Our mission that fall and into the 2023 season was to improve those numbers, particularly focusing on Reaction Time. We thought this would be the best route to boosting her hitting, particularly keeping OPS in mind again as our top-line indicator. Specifically, if we were boosting Reaction Time, we would expect to see this coincide with a boost in SLG. When hitters are faster to pitches they recognize, we generally find they put better swings on a pitch, leading to more extra-base hits.

After 2022-23, Peyton’s uHIT Custom numbers looked as follows:

• 117.6 XP / Pitch
• 90% Accuracy
• 0.434secs Reaction Time

Her XP / Pitch barely changed, but that extra 10% happened at the limits of her ability. She was already 88% accurate on seeing pitch types and only gained +2% there. But the gains in XP / Pitch came about from being faster to react when she saw her pitch (0.434secs Reaction Time from 0.479secs the season before). Peyton focused on optimizing her decisions’ efficiency for identifying different pitch types. She too allowed the AI in uHIT Custom to adjust pitch speeds (faster) and breaks (more subtle) so that she was appropriately challenged. She learned to see the pitch types faster and maintained her previous season’s Accuracy, even gaining two points. And what did these gains correspond with on the field?

2023 on the Field

In 2023, Peyton put over 100 points on her OPS (0.949 from 0.842 the season before). Her route to that change at the plate came through more extra-base hits (SLG went from 0.496 to 0.571) and a nearly 50% reduction in her strikeout-to-walks (1.7 in 2022 to 1.1 in 2023). Not surprisingly, her OBP also went up in 2023 (0.378 from 0.346 the season before). All of these things happened on-field while her efficiency to see and to react to pitch types improved in uHIT Custom. As with Ashley. we saw gains from one season without uHIT Custom to one with it (2021 to 2022). We then saw even more gains when focusing on improving the cognitive efficiency of her decisions (2022 to 2023).

Transfer Player Starting uHIT Custom

Here, we examine a special case for using uHIT Custom. Molly Gates was a Junior transfer from North Dakota State. She started uHIT Custom in the fall of 2022 as part of the expanded cohort from CSU. Coach Jen Fisher had a limited number of uHIT Custom slots for players. But she prioritized Molly to be in that group, presumably because transfers have a lot to adjust to. We were up for the challenge to help the transition.

Molly Gates

Thru 2022

Molly had a good first two seasons at North Dakota State (more details available here). With a lifetime BA of 0.275 at NDSU, she hit an OPS of 0.826 and SLG of 0.448 in 2022 (full hitting details here). This was our baseline on the field coming into her 2022 Assessment the following fall. Her baseline in uHIT Custom was:

• 25.8 XP / Pitch
• 55% Accuracy
• 0.432secs Reaction Time

By the end of the fall 2022 training, she pulled her uHIT numbers in pitch recognition up to the following:

• 37.2 XP / Pitch
• 65% Accuracy
• 0.424secs Reaction Time

Molly’s early progress in uHIT Custom particularly came in Accuracy (55% to 65%). She didn’t lose any time in her decisions either, in fact becoming a little more efficient (0.432secs to 0.424secs).

2023 on uHIT Custom

Here, we look at the jump to being All-Conference 2nd team in 2023 and what she did on the field to earn it. Coming off the fall training, we knew Ashley was picking up again at the numbers quoted above (37.2 XP / Pitch and 65% Accuracy). Our mission in the 2023 season was to improve those numbers, particularly focusing on Accuracy. We thought this would be the best route to boosting her hitting, particularly pushing OPS and easing the transition to a new conference.

After 2022-23, Molly’s uHIT Custom numbers looked as follows:

• 47.6 XP / Pitch
• 69% Accuracy
• 0.453secs Reaction Time

She increased her XP / Pitch by almost a third during the season. How did she do that? She focused on optimizing her decisions for more accurately identifying different pitch types (up to 69% from 65% the fall before). Molly too allowed the AI in uHIT Custom to adjust pitch speeds and breaks so that she was appropriately challenged. She learned to see the pitch types better (riseball, curveball and dropball). One key adjustment was to change the amount of time she needs to decide (0.453secs from 0.424secs the fall before). Specifically, she increased the amount of time before going after a pitch. So Molly’s progress is a great example of how a hitter can learn to see a little bit more of the pitch and still have the time she needs to decide in time. Now let’s look at what these gains correspond with on the field.

2023 on the Field

In 2023, we know Molly was a team leader in OPS at 0.946 with a SLG of 0.524. Those numbers are up from her 2022 season at NDSU (above), where she hit with OPS at 0.826 with a SLG of 0.448. Her strikeout-to-walks reduced slightly (1.5 in 2022 to 1.4 in 2023). Not surprisingly too, her OBP also went up in 2023 (0.422 from 0.378 the season before at NDSU). All of these things happened on-field while her ability to see pitch types improved in uHIT Custom. We saw gains from one season without uHIT Custom to one with it (2022 to 2023). We also had a role in easing the transition between conferences for Molly.

First Year with uHIT Custom: Utility to Starter

We will close out this case study by looking at one more player new to uHIT Custom in 2023. Maya Matsubara was on the team in spring 2022, but she started only started uHIT Custom in the fall of 2022. She too was part of the expanded cohort from CSU. While we would have liked to start sooner with Maya, the comparison between 2023 and 2022 gave us a good chance to look again at what changes are possible in the first season with uHIT Custom. This comparison also allowed us to look at an individual player doing everything the same as her teammates except for using uHIT Custom the prior season.

Maya Matsubara

2022

Maya had a good 2022 as a non-starter. We will use those numbers as her baseline before uHIT Custom. She hit an OPS of 0.713 and SLG of 0.356. This was our baseline on the field coming into her 2022 Assessment the following fall. Here, we will summarize her baseline in uHIT Custom for both pitch and zone recognition:

• Pitch Recognition: 33.3 XP / Pitch
• Zone Recognition: 64.1 XP / Pitch

With these numbers, we had a good baseline to track Maya’s progress in her first year with uHIT Custom.

2022 to 2023

Just like with players above, our mission in the 2023 season was to improve those XP / Pitch numbers, as our top-line indicator in uHIT. We could then look at our other top-line indicator for the field (OPS), along with any dividend metrics that feed into it.

After 2022-23, Maya’s uHIT Custom numbers looked as follows:

• Pitch Recognition (PR): 42.1 XP / Pitch
• Zone Recognition (ZR): 76.7 XP / Pitch

She increased her XP / Pitch by almost a third (PR) and a sixth (ZR) during the season. She did it the same way that the previous players did. Specifically, she allowed the AI in uHIT Custom to adjust pitch speeds, breaks and zones so that she was appropriately challenged. She learned to see the pitch types and zones better  Now let’s look at what these gains correspond with on the field.

In 2023, we know Maya bumped up her OPS to 0.787 with a SLG of 0.375. Those numbers are up from her 2022 season, when she hit an OPS of 713 with a SLG of 0.356. Her strikeout-to-walks were a major part of that change (1.3 in 2022 to 0.8 in 2023), for the first time generating more walks than strikeouts. Not surprisingly too, her OBP also went up in 2023 (0.412 from 0.357 the season before). All of these things happened on-field while her ability to see pitch types and zones improved in uHIT Custom. Like with Molly, we saw gains from one season without uHIT Custom to one with it (2022 to 2023). This time we were looking at all else being the same, in terms of the pitching competition.