What Is Spray Chart in Softball?

A spray chart plots each batted ball at the spot it was fielded or landed, usually colour-coded by outcome. Over a season the pattern becomes obvious in a way a stat line never conveys: whether you pull everything, whether your extra-base hits cluster in one gap, whether your outs are all in the air to one side.

Defences use spray charts to position fielders. Hitters use them to notice what they're actually doing rather than what they think they're doing — the gap between the two is usually the useful part.

In the tracked rec-league sample, batted balls run roughly 43% pull side, 31% up the middle and 26% opposite field, and line drives are far and away the most productive trajectory at .938.