Emma Lavelle — Player Report
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Season Line
| PA | AB | H | 1B | 2B | 3B | HR | BB | K | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | 18 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 0.278 | 0.458 | 0.389 |
Emma Lavelle has struck out in 42% of her plate appearances this season — the highest rate on the team by a wide margin (next-highest regular is around 27%) — while also walking 25% of the time, the second-highest on the roster. High-walk, high-strikeout: when she connects she does damage (a triple, multiple hard-hit singles), but she’s missing far more than she should for how well she squares the ball up when contact happens.
What The At-Bats Show
Every plate appearance was pulled pitch-by-pitch (not just the final result) to see how each strikeout happened, not just that it happened.
| Type | # of strikeouts |
|---|---|
| Called third strike (took it) | 4 |
| Swinging third strike (missed it) | 6 |
Two distinct patterns showed up, roughly evenly split:
Pattern 1 — swinging through it, no contact anywhere. In 3 of her 10 strikeouts, every single strike was a swing and a miss — no foul balls, nothing put in play, zero contact the whole at-bat:
| Pitcher | Pitches |
|---|---|
| NA | Courtesy runner Caroline Edwards in for Paisley Bacon, Strike 1 swinging, Ball 1, Caroline Edwards caught stealing 2nd, catcher Emerson Donley to second baseman Avery G, Strike 2 swinging, Ball 2, Strike 3 swinging. |
| Ansley C | Strike 1 swinging, Ball 1, Strike 2 swinging, Ball 2, Strike 3 swinging. |
| Raelyn Cribb | Strike 1 swinging, Strike 2 swinging, Ball 1, Strike 3 swinging. |
Pattern 2 — frozen with two strikes. In the other strikeouts, she took a called third strike, often after already taking 1–2 earlier strikes looking in the same at-bat:
| Pitcher | Pitches |
|---|---|
| Bryn Francis | Ball 1, Emory Ebner scores on passed ball, Strike 1 looking, Strike 2 swinging, Ball 2, Ball 3, Strike 3 looking. |
| Katelyn Trent | Ball 1, Strike 1 looking, Strike 2 looking, Ball 2, Foul, Strike 3 looking. |
| Katelyn Trent | Ball 1, Ball 2, Foul, Strike 2 swinging, Strike 3 looking. |
| NA | Strike 1 looking, Strike 2 swinging, Caroline Ogburn scores on passed ball, Emory Ebner advances to 3rd on the same pitch, Strike 3 looking. |
She is not a generally passive hitter — she draws walks at a 25% clip, clearly has a good eye — but that patience doesn’t switch into “protect the zone” mode once she’s already down two strikes.
The Situational Split
This is the most important finding in this report. Pulled directly from GameChanger’s own situational stats for her:
| Situation | PA | AB | H | SO | BB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bases empty | 8 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0.125 | 0.125 | 0.125 |
| Scoring position | 12 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 0.444 | 0.583 | 0.667 |
| Runners on | 15 | 10 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 0.400 | 0.600 | 0.600 |
| 2 outs | 10 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0.250 | 0.400 | 0.500 |
| Wins | 19 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 0.333 | 0.474 | 0.467 |
| Losses | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.250 | 0.000 |
With the bases empty, she is a .125 hitter who has not drawn a single walk all season in that situation (0 BB in 8 PA). The moment a runner reaches base, she turns into a completely different hitter — .400 average, .600 on-base, .600 slugging — and with runners in scoring position specifically, .444 / .583 / .667, some of the best situational numbers on the team.
This lines up exactly with the video/pitch-sequence findings above: all three of her “swung through everything, zero contact” strikeouts happened with the bases empty. None of her called-third-strike (frozen) at-bats show an obvious empty-bases pattern — those seem to be a separate, two-strike-specific issue — but the total-miss at-bats are concentrated entirely in the lowest-leverage situation she faces.
This is not primarily a swing problem. If it were bat speed or mechanics, base state shouldn’t matter — a swing doesn’t know whether first base is occupied. This looks like a focus and approach pattern: she brings a sharper, more locked-in version of herself when something is on the line, and that same intensity isn’t showing up when the bases are empty.
Video Review Note
34 of her offensive clips from this season were reviewed at full resolution. Camera limitation worth naming honestly: GameChanger’s fixed field camera is a wide shot of the entire field from behind the backstop, so she appears as a small, distant figure, and the umpire/catcher/backstop netting frequently block the batter’s box at the exact moment of the swing. This was confirmed at native 720p — no amount of zooming recovers bat path, hand position, or swing-plane detail from this footage. What’s visible: general swing-vs-take timing, which is consistent with the pitch-sequence data above but doesn’t add new mechanical detail beyond it.
Coach’s Plan
- Manufacture urgency with the bases empty. This is the headline finding — her total-miss strikeouts all happened in the lowest-stakes situation she faces. Give her something concrete to play for on every first pitch of an inning, not just when a runner’s on.
- Two-strike protect drill, independent of the above: once at two strikes, shorten up and defend anything close. Several strikeouts came on a called third strike after already taking earlier strikes looking in the same at-bat — the approach needs to flip from selective to defensive once she’s in the hole.
- Variable-speed live BP, not more cage time. Her cage performance (by her own report) is strong and doesn’t match her live-pitching numbers — cage reps at a single fixed speed aren’t training the specific skill she’s missing. Mixed-speed front toss targets this directly.
- Not a concern: her raw contact quality (triple, hard-hit singles) and general plate discipline (2nd-highest walk rate on the team) are both genuinely good. No swing rebuild needed.
For Emma
Hey Emma — here’s what we found after going through every single one of your at-bats this season, pitch by pitch.
The good news first: when a teammate is on base, you’re one of the best hitters on the whole team. When a runner’s on base, you’re hitting .400 and reaching base 60% of the time. With a runner in scoring position (2nd or 3rd base), you’re even better — .444, reaching base 58% of the time. Those are some of the best numbers on the entire roster in that situation. When it matters most, you show up big.
Here’s the interesting part — with nobody on base, that same hitter kind of disappears. With the bases empty, your average drops all the way to .125, and you didn’t draw a single walk all season in that spot. Something is different between those two versions of you at the plate — and it’s probably not your swing, because your swing clearly works great (just look at your runners-on numbers again). It’s more likely about how locked-in and ready you feel before there’s anything “on the line” yet.
What we saw on video backs this up. The three at-bats where you swung and missed at every single pitch — no foul balls, no contact at all, nothing — all three happened with the bases empty. That’s a real clue: those were at-bats where the pitch looks like it caught you a little off guard, like you weren’t quite locked in yet when it left the pitcher’s hand.
Three things to work on:
- Make every at-bat feel like it matters, even leading off an inning with nobody on. Give yourself something to play for on the very first pitch — battle to get a strike, spoil a tough pitch, whatever it is. Don’t let the first at-bat of an inning be a “warm-up” swing. Treat it like the bases are loaded even when they’re empty.
- Get your hands and eyes ready earlier when nobody’s on base. All three of your total-miss strikeouts happened in the lowest-pressure spot you face. Try treating every first pitch of an at-bat like it’s already a 3-2 count with the game on the line — because that’s exactly the focus level you already bring when a runner’s on.
- Protect the plate once you get to two strikes. A few of your strikeouts happened on a called third strike, after you’d already taken two earlier strikes looking. Once you’re down two strikes, shrink your zone, shorten up your swing, and don’t let a close pitch go by without swinging at it.
You already have everything you need — your numbers with runners on base prove that beyond any doubt. This isn’t about fixing your swing. It’s about bringing that same locked-in, ready-for-anything version of yourself to every pitch, not just the ones that already feel important.
Stats pulled from Port City Frenzy MTP 14U’s full public GameChanger play-by-play logs. Situational splits sourced directly from GameChanger’s own situation-stats view. Video review covered 34 offensive clips at native resolution; two additional files in the shared folder were excluded as they appear to be from a different team/season (different jersey number and team codes on the scoreboard overlay).