Midseason Offensive Metrics

The Louisville coaching staff uses five key metrics to review how the offense has performed throughout the season. The Cardinals have played 27 games of a 51 game schedule, so they are a little beyond the halfway point. It is tough to account for postseason games due to the uncertainty of how many additional games they will play in the ACC and NCAA tournaments, so these metrics will be updated upon the completion of the season. But, how is the offense performing so far this year?

Score More Runs

The first metric is quite simple: score more runs than your opponent. Seems easy enough, right? Louisville has easily hit this goal every year over the last five seasons and is on pace to hit this number again. The Cards have scored 195 runs and even though the pitching staff has struggled, they have only allowed 143 runs. Louisville will hit this metric for the 6th consecutive season. Check.

Doubles

The second metric is for everyone in the lineup to have 10-15 doubles. Achieving this goal can be a little trickier just because the simple fact that Louisville does not have the same lineup every single game. Of the nine normal starters, seven of them currently have five or more doubles, so a majority of the team is on pace and Cooper Bowman is just behind with four. Levi Usher is the only outlier in this category with zero doubles so far. In the previous five seasons, Louisville has not met this goal, hitting six twice and seven three times. Unlikely.

Home runs

Louisville has a chance to hit this metric for the first time in three years, which is to have at least three players with double digit home runs. Henry Davis leads the way with eight home runs on the season and I have no doubt that he will hit at least two more. Three other candidates could reach the mark before the end of the season. Cooper Bowman and Cam Masterman have six apiece and Alex Binelas has five. Bowman's home runs have seemed to come in waves, so if he can get hot, it may just take him a few games to hit the mark. Masterman on the other hand, has slowed his home run production since the first series. He hit three home runs in the first three games against Bellarmine and has only hit three the rest of the season. He definitely has the power to do it and only needs four, so do not be surprised to see Masterman hit the double digit mark. In my opinion, Binelas will get there by the end of the year. After a slow start, his five home runs have all come in the last 3 1/2 weeks and he has been on a tear lately. Probably.

Stolen Bases

One of the most exciting aspects of Dan McDonnell's offense is that Louisville will run early and often, no matter who is on base. The staff has a goal to steal 100 bases each year, which will be surpassed in the near future as they currently have 76 already. Levi Usher leads the country with 22 stolen bases, followed by Cooper Bowman with 11, and Luke Brown with 10. Louisville has only missed this mark once in the last five seasons, in 2017, when they recorded 98 stolen bases. Cards will meet this goal with ease this year. Check.

Control the Zone

The Louisville coaching staff preaches controlling the zone and what they mean by that is having more walks/HBP's than strikeouts. This is a pretty lofty goal, especially with the HBP rule changes over the past few seasons. Louisville has hit the metric twice in the last five years but they are not on pace to do so this year. They currently have 158 free passes and have 185 strikeouts as a team. It will be near impossible to make up that ground over the second half of the season. Doubtful.

How has Louisville fared over the past five seasons?