Now that we're several weeks into the Little League season, many coaches are probably starting to tally up their team's offensive statistics (which they should be doing automatically with GameChanger.io!).

I'm sure some of you are thrilled to see your son's batting average at .750 while others might not be so happy seeing .275, but in reality, a high batting average should not be the goal as a hitter.

Here's a simple question I ask all my hitting students (and almost none of them get it correct): "Why are you hitting? What's the purpose of your at-bat?"

Here are the answers I most often get:
"To get a hit"
"To hit a homerun"
"To not strike out"

The real answer is: "To help my team score runs."

The only mission for the offense is to score runs and there are many ways to help your team do this besides "getting a hit" - this is what's known as a "Quality At-Bat."

The definition of Quality AB changes slightly as guys get older, but in Little League I would define it as the following, in no particular order:

1) Getting a hit
2) Hitting the ball hard*
3) Advancing a runner*
4) Driving a run in*
5) Having an at-bat that lasts more than 7 pitches*
6) Taking at least 3 aggressive swings*
7) Drawing a walk (my least favorite)

As you can see, 5 of these definitions (the ones with an "*") often result in your son getting out - a 0 in the hit column for his batting average. But just because he didn't get a hit towards his batting average, it does not mean it wasn't a productive AB. Teams that have all 9 guys trying to accomplish one of the above every time they step to the plate will score tons of runs.

Focusing on Quality At-Bats isn't a mechanism to justify a low batting average. Rather, it redefines our goals in the batter's box and allows us to realize that each AB isn't about "me" getting a hit, but "we" scoring runs.

In the 10th inning of Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, Lance Berkman came to the plate with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd base. With 2 strikes on him and the entire season on the line - he stroked a game tying single.

During the post-game interview he was asked what he was thinking during the at-bat with the season hanging in the balance. He said something to the effect of:

"All I was trying to do was have a good at-bat. I know I'm going to get out 7 out of 10 times so all I tried to focus on was having a good at-bat and trying to hit the ball hard and the rest would take care of itself."

I couldn't have said it better myself.