Okay, so today I wanted to dig into something I’ve been tracking in my practice sessions: whiff rate. Basically, how often do I swing and completely miss the ball?
First, I needed to set up a way to actually track this. I decided to keep it simple. I grabbed a notebook and a pen – old school, I know, but it works for me. Every time I practiced, I made two columns:
- Total Swings
- Whiffs
Then, it was just a matter of being honest with myself. Every practice session, I started swinging. Every time I swung, I marked a tally in the “Total Swings” column. Every time I missed, a tally in the “Whiffs” column.
During The Practice
No fancy equipment, no coaches yelling at me (yet!), just me, my notebook, and a whole lot of swings. I paid attention on my * was rough at first, there are a lots of whiffs, but it got better as times go.
After each session, I did the math. Simple division:
(Whiffs / Total Swings) 100 = Whiff Rate %
I jotted down the percentage in my notebook next to the date. That way, I could see if I was improving over time.
It wasn’t pretty at the beginning. My whiff rate was, let’s just say, higher than I’d like to admit. Seeing it written down, though, that was a wake-up call. It made me really focus on my technique, my timing, everything.
Keeping Up
I kept at it, week after week. Some days were better than others. Some days I felt like I was going backward. But I kept tracking, kept swinging, kept whiffing (less and less, hopefully!).
Slowly but surely, those percentages started to drop. It was incredibly satisfying to see that number go down, knowing it was a direct result of the work I was putting in.
So that’s my super simple, no-frills method for tracking whiff rate. It’s not glamorous, but it’s effective. And for me, that’s all that matters.
