The Hoosiers weren’t hitting and they needed to change if they wanted to make not only the NCAA Tournament, but the Big Ten Tournament as well.
The vehicle for the change — a dry erase whiteboard.
If you peer into IU’s dugout this weekend, you will see a whiteboard manned by senior Chris Sujka. The whiteboard doesn’t keep track of the score, doesn’t keep track of momentum swings or hits. The white board keeps track of quality at bats.
“We really made it a point of emphasis to do it right in front of everybody,” IU Coach Chris Lemonis said. “Really, the point of emphasis became how many can we get a day? We’ve gotten to a point where if we can get to 20 then we think we can win.”
IU can reach 20 quality at bats in a game through a variety of ways. A quality at bat can be a walk, advancing a runner to third base with less than two outs, battling back from two strikes or simply hitting the ball hard.
The motivation for moving the whiteboard into the dugout during games was to get rid of wasted at bats, something that was happening far too often, Lemonis said. The whiteboard also helps Hoosiers who aren’t playing stay involved in the game, especially Sujka, who Lemonis said will be a coach one day.
The whiteboard also keeps things in perspective for the Hoosiers.
“You can look at that board at the end of the game and be 0-for-4 hits-wise but walked once and had three other quality at bats with line drives,” senior outfielder Will Nolden said. “So it just kind of reminds you that if you play the game right, the hits will come.”
Nolden also said the whiteboard helps keeps hitters from becoming frustrated. If a player is going through a funk at the plate statistically, they can look at the whiteboard and realize they are still having quality at bats.
Nolden says keeping track of quality at bats helps the Hoosiers keep their heads in the game more.
Senior catcher Brad Hartong agrees.
“I think seeing what you did the past game or coming in after an at bat and realizing that you haven’t had a quality at bat today and it’s time to lock in,” Hartong said. “I think that’s helping a little bit too.”
The Hoosiers have been keeping track of quality at bats going back to fall practices, Lemonis said. They were how the coaching staff evaluated the Hoosiers at the plate because sometimes a hit total can be deceiving, he said.
The hitters were aware of quality at bats before but not as much as they are now.
“The goal’s 20, so we have someone who keeps accountable personally, and you either get a check mark for a quality at bat or an ‘X’ if you don’t,” Hartong said. “Ever since that our offense has just had a lot more focus.”
