Have We Gotten Away from the Eye Test? | The Hitting Zone | YBM

Technology, data, metrics, rankings, numbers — we have more information available to evaluate baseball players than ever before.But have we gotten away from the eye test?On this episode of The Hitting Zone, Mitch Thomas welcomes Dave Wiggins, host of YBM’s Baseball 101, for a conversation about how we evaluate players in today’s game.Numbers can tell us a lot. Velocity, exit velocity, pop time, spin rate, measurable tools and countless other data points have become part of the baseball landscape. But can those numbers tell us everything we need to know about a player?Mitch and Dave take a swing at the balance between measurable data and simply watching someone play baseball.What happens when the numbers say one thing, but your eyes tell you something different?Are we putting too much weight on measurable tools?Can you measure baseball IQ, competitiveness, instincts, toughness, decision-making or how a player responds when the game gets difficult?And with players increasingly evaluated through numbers, rankings and short looks, is there still enough room for coaches and evaluators to trust what they see?It’s another conversation about development, evaluation, and making sure the tools available to the game are helping us understand players — rather than becoming the only way we define them.Step inside The Hitting Zone.Follow Dave Wiggins / Baseball 101Instagram: @coachdave1338X: @CoachDW1338Follow Mitch Thomas / The Hitting ZoneInstagram: @_mtsperformanceX: @TheHittingZoneSTLTikTok: @thehittingzonestlFollow Youth Baseball Midwest⚾ Join the YBM Clubhouse on YouTube for early access to new episodes, exclusive content, exclusive discounts and more!👕 Rep YBM — Shop the Official Merch Store:https://gorgeousware.com/collections/youth-baseball-midwestThe Hitting Zone is sponsored by Kilo Gear.Visit https://www.youthbaseballmidwest.com and click the Kilo Gear tab.Use promo code YBM10 for 10% off your order!YBM Partner: Game 7 Baseball⚾ Stay locked in with Youth Baseball Midwest—your hub for full-spectrum youth baseball insight in the Midwest. Subscribe and hit that dinger (🔔) to never miss a game-state insight.🌐 More YBM:Website: youthbaseballmidwest.comYouTube: Youth Baseball MidwestInstagram: @youthbaseballmidwestTikTok: @YouthBaseballMidwestX: @YBM_castFacebook: Youth Baseball MidwestPresented by our proud partners:Game 7 Baseball: game7baseball.comPrime Sports Midwest: primesportsmw.com🎥 Production Partner:Red Earth Productions: redearthprod.com