WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Sometimes a reporter just knows they’re on the verge of a compelling story. During my first interview on the Washington Nationals beat for The Athletic, I felt that sensation while talking with pitcher Cole Henry at his locker.
This feeling stemmed from comments made by Paul Toboni, the president of baseball operations, upon his arrival in Washington. He referenced “making the scoreboard visible,” and now Henry was rifling through his locker for a document that demonstrated this concept.
The paper listed all pitchers remaining in camp on its left side, each assigned a specific row. Next to their names were various percentages reflecting their camp performance.
“This shows what we aim to excel at as a pitching staff,” Henry explained while gesturing toward the headers above before diving into the numbers below.
“Green is good,” he noted simply. “Red is — well, not good. We want a certain percentage, so it indicates if you have a favorable percentage. A 32% whiff rate is good. Free-throw percentage is …”
While some terms were straightforward, as I examined the sheet, I realized I only understood whiff rate and fastball velocity. Upon admitting this, Henry kindly elaborated on the statistics:
• Whiff rate: Frequency of swings and misses.
• Fastball velocity: Easily deduced.
• Free-throw percentage: How often pitchers establish an early advantage.
• Attack percentage: Frequency of pitches thrown in the strike zone.
• Kill percentage: Rate of putting a hitter away in two-strike counts.
• Battle win percentage: Performance in even counts (1-1, 2-2).
• Pre-two-strike WC: …
This prompted Henry to seek clarification from teammate Jackson Rutledge about the last category. “Pre-two-strike win count,” Rutledge clarified, leading Henry to compare it to the battle percentage.
