Alright, so I got this idea the other day. I wanted to track the player stats for a Colorado Rockies versus San Diego Padres game myself. Not just rely on the box score after, you know? Really get into the nitty-gritty during the actual game.
Getting Started
First up, I had to figure out which specific game I was gonna focus on. Found the schedule, picked one that worked for me time-wise. Couldn’t track every single player, that’d be crazy, way too much happening. So, I decided to pick a few key guys from both teams.
Picking the Players
For the Rockies, I thought, okay, maybe I’ll watch their main slugger closely, maybe someone like Blackmon, see how his at-bats go. And definitely wanted to track the starting pitcher, see how many innings, strikeouts, walks, that sort of thing. On the Padres side, you gotta watch guys like Machado or Tatis Jr. when they’re up. Same deal, track their hits, RBIs, strikeouts. And their starting pitcher too, of course.
The Process During the Game
So the game starts. I had my trusty notebook and a pen. Yeah, I know there are apps, but doing it by hand feels more involved, like I’m actually doing something, you know?
I basically broke it down like this:
- For hitters: Every time they came to bat, I’d note the result. Was it a hit? What kind? An out? Strikeout? Walk? Did they drive in any runs? Score any runs?
- For pitchers: Kept a running tally. Innings pitched, how many strikeouts they got, walks issued, hits given up, and crucially, the earned runs.
It sounds simple, but man, keeping up can be tough. Baseball has a lot going on between pitches, but when the action happens, it happens fast.
Some Challenges
Honestly, the hardest part was just keeping pace. Sometimes I’d be writing down the result of one play, and the next batter is already up, and something else is happening. Had to quickly scribble notes. Also, trying to catch everything accurately – was that really an error or a hit? Sometimes the TV broadcast angle isn’t clear, or the announcers are chatting about something else entirely. You just do your best to grab the key stuff.
Wrapping Up
After the final out, I looked over my notes. It wasn’t the neatest thing, haha. But I could piece together a pretty good picture for the players I tracked. Like, okay, this guy went 2-for-4 with a double, this pitcher lasted 6 innings and gave up 2 runs with 7 Ks. It was cool to have my own little record right there.
Doing this definitely makes you watch the game differently. You pay attention to each at-bat more, notice the pitcher’s pitch count climbing. It takes effort, for sure, maybe not something I’d do every single game because sometimes you just want to kick back and enjoy. But it was a fun little project, a good way to feel more connected to what was happening on the field.
