What is a spray chart and how do coaches use it?

A spray chart maps where a hitter actually hits the ball — every batted ball from their season, placed on the field by direction and zone. A full-season spray chart turns "he looked pull-heavy" into "62% of his balls in play go to the left side."

Coaches use spray charts to position the defense before the at-bat starts: shade the shortstop into the hole for the pull hitter, bring the left fielder in on the slap hitter, know which hitters genuinely use the whole field. Against a lineup you have never seen, spray data replaces a season's worth of eye test.

The useful version is per-hitter and full-season — one game's worth of batted balls is noise, a season is a pattern.

Spray charts for your next opponent

RivalCharts computes per-hitter spray heat maps from an opponent's public GameChanger season — see them in the sample varsity report.