Some Sooner Softball Stats compared to other teams

[OUBeliever56A]

As I myself, try to get a handle and understand the 2024 edition of the Sooners I looked up these stats to see how OU compares with other teams.

This is a list of eight 'major' Team Stats and where Oklahoma Ranks:

ERA = 1.39 - #6 in the country - Alabama #1 w 0.59
BA = .382 - #4 in the country - North Carolina #1 w .417
OB% - .466 - #5 in the country - North Carolina #1 w .489
Slug% - .661 - #6 in the country - Miami (OH) #1 w .774
Fielding% - .986 - #3 in the country - Florida #1 w .987
Scoring - 8.16 R/G - #5 in the country - Miami (OH) #1 w 9.81
W/L% - 18-1 - .947 - Tied for 3rd in the country - LSU #1 w 19-0 = 100%
Shutouts - 11 - Tied for #2 in the country - Florida #1 w 14

If you look at the teams that are in the Top 10 of those 8 Stats you get these results:

Oklahoma in ALL 8 (see above)
Florida in ALL 8
Texas in 7 of the 8 (not in the Fielding%)
Duke in 6 of the 8 (not in Fielding% and OB%)
Florida State in 4 of the 8 (BA, OB%, Slug%, Scoring)
Oklahoma State in 4 of 8 (BA, Slug%, Field%, Shutouts)
LSU on 3 of the 8 (W/L%, OB%, Shutouts)
Mississippi State in 3 of the 8 (ERA, BA and OB%)
Texas A&M in 3 of the 8 (Slug%, W/L%, Shutouts)
Miami (OH) in 3 of the 8 (OB%, Slug%, Scoring)
East Carolina in 3 of the 8 (ERA, BA, W/L%)
North Carolina in 3 of the 8 (BA, OB%, Scoring)
Georgia Tech in 3 of the 8 (BA, OB%, Slug%)
3 Teams w 2 of the 8 - Alabama (ERA and W/L%), BYU (OB% and Scoring) and Virginia Tech (Slug% and Scoring)
Several w 1 of the 8

I would say it is pretty hard to think that Oklahoma is not playing well when you look at this. If you think OU is not playing well, maybe you are spoiled a bit by the success of the last two years in particular and even the last three year overall.

Boomer Sooner!

[OUBeliever56A]

Here is another way to look at the Sooners versus other teams. I have this way to look at the Run Differential per game for teams.

Run Differential equals the Runs Scored per Game for the team and then subtract the ERA for the team. In the last step I calculate the unearned runs that have been scored per team and then subtract that value also. (Yes, I could just use the Runs Allowed per Game for each team, but I like to see the breakout for each team.)

For OU those numbers are:
RS/G - ERA - Unearned Runs per Game = Run Differential
8.16 - 1.39 - .316 = 6.452 = Oklahoma is #4 of the teams that are ranked plus a few other teams.

Here are the other Top 10 teams in Run Differential:
#1 - Florida = 9.45 -0.98 - .182 = 8.293
#2 - Texas = 8.95 -0.72 - .421 = 7.806
#3 - Duke = 8.41 - 0.88 - .118 = 7.414
#5 - Boston U = 7.43 - 1.67 - .071 = 5.687
#6 - Oklahoma State = 7.37 - 1.66 - .421 = 5.287
#7 - Mississippi State = 7.25 - 1.57 - . 500 = 5.180
#8 - Texas A&M = 7.11 - 1.61 - .474 = 5.022
#9 - LSU = 7.21 - 1.98 - .316 = 4.915
#10 - Virginia Tech = 7.84 - 2.55 - .474 = 4.818

Food for Thought:
OU 2021 = 10.63 - 1.94 - .300 = 8.39
OU 2022 = 9.34 - 1.05 -.178 = 8.112
OU 2023 = 8.08-0.96-.097 = 7.023

I must admit that I am surprised that Florida, Texas and Duke are in the neighborhood with the last three Oklahoma teams. I am not surprised at this point that OU is #4. But as most things go, team stats generally go down as the season plays out. This last week Oklahoma's offensive stats substantially increased while the pitching staff stats declined a bit. I hope the pitching stats are built back up this week against Texas A&M Commerce and Iowa State.

I do not think that Florida has played anyone that is too good at this point so their stats should decrease as the season plays out. Texas's stats decreased alot this last week. Duke is just playing really well right now in all phases of the game. But Oklahoma did defeat Duke this season in Puerto Vallarta.

[Bixby_Sooner]

OUB,that is some good work on presenting those stats. I know you spent some time developing and researching them. They seem to be very very reflective of the quality of ball being played to this point in the season. One thing I am curious about is, what would those stats look if those same teams, in each category, were weighed by a strength of schedule factor? I would guess we've played as many ranked teams as anyone, probably more, as Patty didn't ease up out of the box this year. I think that an SOS would impact those stats (likely favorably) as well.

This team has not really consistently clicked on both sides of the ball for whatever reason, with the exception of 2 possibly 3 games so far. Also, PG has been shuffling the roster in an attempt to find the magic numbers and combinations on offense and defense. I think that gets settled soon, as we are a week away from entering our final Big XII season. We shall see, as the saying goes. I may or may not be right, but I think that the lineup getting settled, will also help them get comfortable and gain confidence in their spot. This in turn should see their performance in all areas improve.

[OUBeliever56A]

OUB,that is some good work on presenting those stats. I know you spent some time developing and researching them. They seem to be very very reflective of the quality of ball being played to this point in the season. One thing I am curious about is, what would those stats look if those same teams, in each category, were weighed by a strength of schedule factor? I would guess we've played as many ranked teams as anyone, probably more, as Patty didn't ease up out of the box this year. I think that an SOS would impact those stats (likely favorably) as well.

This team has not really consistently clicked on both sides of the ball for whatever reason, with the exception of 2 possibly 3 games so far. Also, PG has been shuffling the roster in an attempt to find the magic numbers and combinations on offense and defense. I think that gets settled soon, as we are a week away from entering our final Big XII season. We shall see, as the saying goes. I may or may not be right, but I think that the lineup getting settled, will also help them get comfortable and gain confidence in their spot. This in turn should see their performance in all areas improve.

I agree about the strength of schedule is missing. But the RPI rankings just do not work for me. When a win against Stanford when Canady pitches is valued the same as a win against Stanford when Canady does not pitch, it is flawed in my mind. Other pitchers like Fouts, Odicci Alexander and others fall into that scenario as well for other teams. Maybe Beaver for Alabama this year and a few others. I have tried to think that through on how to separate it but I just do not have enough time.

I guess that the listing of the RPI SOS added to list would be another evaluation line to consider if you were trying to rank the "best teams' by using run differential or even who is ranked in the most stat categories. And then maybe I am just not that good either to figure it out.

I agree about not fully clicking yet this year. It seems that something is off at times while the team has been successful in most every way. I hope we get back to a 'more set' lineup from a batting order perspective. I wonder if the Sooners are taking analytics to the extreme at times.

[MontOUfan]

We make comparisons often to the 2021 team, but because of the Covid situation the Sooners didn't face the best competition early in that season. I would be curious what the effect of taking out three games early on in which they scored 83 total runs (50 in two games against UTEP and 33 against New Mexico) would be on their total stats for that season.

[SoonerGirl1201]

I think we have just been so spoiled. If you take out the fielding/defensive mistakes against Louisiana (and treat that like the aberration that it is) this is a really good team. So many years I watched as we had good hitting, but not good pitching. Or good pitching but not good hitting. For the past 3 solid years we have had either great hitting and really good pitching (21), great hitting and great pitching (22), really good hitting and great pitching (23) and now this year where I think we probably have really good hitting (trending great) and really good pitching (if history proves itself it will trend great as well).

The product we see in the middle April will most likely be improved compared to what we see now as well in both hitting and pitching.

I thing everyone is jumping at the opportunity to relegate this team to a "less than" (note all the ranking services that quickly bumped texas as #1 after the loss). I get it. I just think the rumor of OU's demise this year has been slightly exaggerated.

Every year I see Patty play with the batting lineups early and it almost always looks like what it does now - great hitting at times and not so great at other times. We have also seen pitchers struggle early (look at Jordy at the beginning of last year - May and Storako carried a lot of the weight early until Jordy settled in around mid-year as the go-to). I think Patty knows what she has got but is doing what she does best in figuring out the best way to make this team's total add up to even more than the sum of the parts.

I'm not ready to concede anything with this team just yet. They still have the best roster in softball bar none and the best head coach, hitting coach and pitching coach.