First Pitch Advantage — User Guide

What it does

First Pitch Advantage turns any team's GameChanger games into a printable scouting package in a few minutes. Open the opponent's schedule on web.gc.com, pick the games, and it reads every play to build hitter and pitcher reports, player cards, laminated pocket cards and a defensive positioning sheet.

Where each hitter hits the ball — a spray chart, infield and outfield shift calls, and how deep to play him.
How each hitter approaches an at-bat — first-pitch habits, strikeout and walk rates, swing-and-miss, and what he does in each count.
What each pitcher does — strike and first-pitch-strike rates, how hard he is to hit, and how opponents hit him.
Paper for the dugout — one-page reports, player cards, a 3 + 3 laminate sheet and a positioning matrix.
Phone and iPad copies — save the cards as a file and open it on any device, even offline.

Install and sign in

First Pitch Advantage runs in Google Chrome on a computer. It does not run on a phone or iPad, but you can save its cards as a file and open them there.

Install First Pitch Advantage (Atala) from the Chrome Web Store.
Go to web.gc.com and sign in to GameChanger as usual.
The navy First Pitch Advantage panel appears at the top right of the page. Sign in there with the email and password Atala sent you.
New to First Pitch Advantage? The panel's Start your 30-day free trial link goes to the subscribe page.

You stay signed in between visits. If the extension can't confirm your subscription for a long stretch (for example, the computer was offline), it asks you to sign in again.

Premium feature. The L/R handedness splits need FPA Premium. Without it they show an upgrade message; everything else works. Email shawn@atalafinancial.com to upgrade.

Run a Team Analysis

Every report starts with one Team Analysis of the team you want to scout. Run it from that team's Schedule page on GameChanger.

On web.gc.com, open the opponent's team page and click Schedule.
In the First Pitch Advantage panel, click ▶ Team Analysis (from Schedule page).
The extension lists every game it found. Scored games are checked; games with no score are left unchecked. Use Select all / Select none or tick games one by one.
Set the options below, then click START TEAM ANALYSIS.
It opens each game in turn and reads the play-by-play. A status badge shows progress. Leave the tab open until it finishes; ■ Stop run in the panel cancels it.
When the run finishes, the Report Center opens.

Option	What it does
Include header rows	Adds column headers when you use the Copy buttons to paste data into a spreadsheet.
Look up handedness for L/R splits (Premium)	Loads Atala’s handedness database so the splits cards can sort results by right- and left-handed opponents. Pick Varsity (HS) or a Travel Ball — Class of year (2030–2036).
Show Atala Power Rank	Adds the 1–100 Power Rank to cards and reports. Varsity baseball only; grayed out for JV, freshman, middle-school, youth, travel-ball and softball teams.

Tip: pick the games that reflect the team you will face. Dropping early-season or blowout games often gives a truer picture of the regular lineup.

Fix names, numbers and handedness

GameChanger doesn't always carry jersey numbers, bats/throws or grad years. Click ✎ Edit Roster in the Report Center to fill them in. ⚡ Atala Update fills what it can from Atala's database in one click. Click Save Roster; the roster is remembered for that team and reused in every report.

The Report Center

The Report Center is the hub for everything a run produces. It opens when a run finishes; reopen it any time from 📋 Report center in the panel. Each button opens its report in a new tab, ready to print or save.

Button	What it opens
🏟 Team Stats	One-page team card: record, runs for and against, the games included, and team-wide hitting and pitching.
👤 Hitter Cards	A full card for each hitter, with a player list down the side. Print any card, or save the set to your phone or iPad.
👤 Pitcher Cards	The same for each pitcher.
🖨 Hitter Report	Every hitter in printable tables: hitting stats, speed, power and shift calls, where they hit the ball, situational average and hits by count.
🖨 Pitcher Report	The same for the pitching staff, from the pitcher’s side.
📕 Full Report	Everything in one printable file: both reports, player cards, game cards and the positioning matrix. 💾 Save Report file keeps a copy on your computer.
🃏 Game Cards	The laminate sheet (3 defense + 3 pitcher cards) plus the positioning matrix.
⇄ Hitter L/R Splits	Each hitter’s results against right- and left-handed pitchers (Premium handedness lookup).
⇄ Pitcher L/R Splits	Each pitcher’s results against right- and left-handed batters.
✎ Edit Roster	Fix jersey numbers, bats, throws and grad years.

Above the buttons:

Positioning benchmark level sets which level the positioning matrix compares hitters against. HS is the default; youth levels are marked "coming soon" until their data is ready.
📊 View benchmark data shows the percentile curves behind the color coding.
📖 Stats guide explains every abbreviation.

The floating panel repeats most of these as menu items, plus 🗑 Reset / clear stored data, which wipes the stored run so you can start fresh.

Read the player cards

Each card is one player's whole season on one page. The header shows jersey number, name, a HITTER or PITCHER badge, the Power Rank when it applies (a * means a small sample: under 60 AB or 20 IP), bats or throws, grad year, team and season.

Hitter card, top to bottom

Section	What it tells you
Spray (left)	Share of his balls in play to each position. Darker circles = more balls there. Use it to shade the defense.
Hitting Stats	Avg / OBP / Slug, OPS, ISO, BB%, K% and Whiff% on the first row. AB, H, 2B, 3B, HR, OF %, Hard % and GB % on the second.
Batted Ball Profile	How his contact breaks down: line drives, hard grounders, fly balls, ground balls, pop-ups and bunts.
First Pitch Tendency	What happens on pitch one: put in play, fouled, swung through, taken for a strike, or taken for a ball. Z-Swing and CQR sit at the end of the row.
% Hits at Strike / Ball Count · Full Count	Where in the count his hits come from, and what he does at 3-2 (walk, strikeout or ball in play).
Situational Batting Average	Average overall, by outs, with bases empty, with runners in scoring position, when his team is losing, tied or winning, and against starters vs relievers.

How to use it: a hitter who takes strike one (high K1 Look) can be attacked early. A low Z-Swing means he rarely offers at first-pitch strikes. Most hits with 0 strikes means get ahead of him.

Pitcher card

Left: spray of where opponents hit him, strikeout rates (overall and with runners in scoring position), full-count outcomes, and hits allowed by count.
Pitching Stats: games, innings, pitches, workload per game and per inning, Strike %, first-pitch strike %, SO/BB, walks and hits per inning, WHIP.
Results: strikeouts per inning, ERA, pitches per batter, CSW%, Whiff% and XBH% allowed.
Opponent Hitting, Batted Ball Profile, First Pitch Tendency and Situational Average (Against): how hitters have done against him. "as SP / as RP" = his results as a starter vs a reliever.

Colors

Green to red cells compare a stat with Atala's 2026 varsity benchmarks. Green is good for the player whose card it is, red is bad, white is average.
Orange shading in the batted-ball, first-pitch and count rows shows where the most of his total sits. It is not good or bad.
On pitcher cards the colors are flipped where needed, so green always means good for that pitcher.

Game cards and the positioning matrix

🃏 Game Cards prints one letter-size page with 3 defense cards and 3 pitcher cards (3.3 × 2.55 in each), followed by the positioning matrix. Cut on the dashed lines and laminate. Need more cards? Print the page again. Players are listed by jersey number.

Defense card

Column	Meaning
# / Hitter / B	Jersey, name, bats (R, L, S)
IF	Infield shade: L or R plus how strong the lean is (%); — = play straight up
OF	Outfield shade, same format
Dep	Overall depth: Deep (green), Norm, or Shal for shallow (red)

Pitcher card

Jersey, name, throws, then ERA, Strike %, first-pitch strike %, WHIP and CSW. Red cells mark a dangerous pitcher: low ERA and WHIP, high strike rates.

Positioning matrix

One row per hitter and a call for every fielder (3B, SS, 2B, 1B, LF, CF, RF), measured against the benchmark level set in the Report Center.

Base calls: Std = standard · Deep = edge of the grass · NoDbl = no-doubles deep · Shal = shallow · In = corners in.
Shade: ◀ toward the 3B / LF line, ▶ toward the 1B / RF line, 1 or 2 steps.
Flags: B⚠ bunts · Spd speed · DP✓ double-play ball likely · Hard⚠ hits it hard.

The calls start from data, but treat them as a starting point. Adjust for your field, your pitcher and the game situation.

Take it to your phone or iPad

Open 👤 Hitter Cards or 👤 Pitcher Cards. Two buttons at the top of the player list save the cards as a file on your computer:

💾 Save Card Viewer (iPad) — every hitter and pitcher card in one file, with a player list to tap through. Best on an iPad or laptop.
📱 Save Game Cards (Phone/iPad) — the big-type dugout cards, sized for a phone.

Move the file to your phone or iPad (AirDrop, email it to yourself, or save it to your own Google Drive, iCloud or Dropbox), then open it in the browser. It works offline in the dugout. The file stays with you: Atala doesn't receive or store it.

To share with another coach, send them the file the same way.

Stat glossary

The less familiar stats, in the order they appear on the cards. The full list is on the Glossary page and under 📖 Stats guide in the Report Center.

Stat	Meaning
OPS	On-base % + slugging %. The best single all-around hitting number.
ISO	Isolated power: slugging minus average. Extra-base damage only.
BB% / K%	Share of plate appearances ending in a walk / strikeout.
Whiff%	Swings and misses ÷ swings. Pure bat-to-ball.
OF %	Share of balls in play hit to the outfield.
Hard %	Share of contact that is hard-hit (line drives, hard grounders, fly balls).
GB %	Share of contact on the ground.
K1 Swing / K1 Look	Strike one swinging / strike one taken.
Z-Swing	First-pitch aggressiveness: of first-pitch strikes, how often he swung.
CQR	Contact Quality Ratio: when he swings at pitch one, how often he puts it in play.
FC BB% / FC K% / FC BIP%	At a full count (3-2): % ending in a walk / strikeout / ball in play.
BE / RISP	Bases empty / runners in scoring position (2nd and/or 3rd).
vs SP / vs RP	Batting average against starters / relievers.
FP S%	First-pitch strike %. Getting ahead 0-1.
SO/BB	Strikeout-to-walk ratio. Command.
WIP / HIP / WHIP	Walks / hits / walks + hits per inning pitched.
P/BF	Pitches per batter faced. Lower = quicker outs.
CSW%	Called strikes + whiffs ÷ total pitches. Overall "nasty" rate.
XBH%	Share of hits allowed that went for extra bases.
Power Rank	Atala’s 1–100 rating for varsity baseball. 50 = average varsity player; 70+ ≈ top 10%. * = small sample. How it’s calculated.

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Problem	Fix
"No schedule rows found — is this the schedule page?"	Open the team’s Schedule tab on web.gc.com, wait for the games to load, then start the analysis again.
"No data — run a Team Analysis first"	The stored run is empty or was cleared. Run a Team Analysis.
A report or card window doesn’t open	Chrome blocked the pop-up. Click the blocked-pop-up icon in the address bar and allow pop-ups for web.gc.com.
Splits show "vs N/A"	The handedness database wasn’t loaded. Re-run with Look up handedness checked (Premium).
Power Rank missing or grayed out	It only applies to varsity baseball.
Jersey numbers, bats or grad years missing	Use ✎ Edit Roster, or ⚡ Atala Update, then Save Roster.
"Requires FPA Premium"	Handedness splits are a Premium feature. Email shawn@atalafinancial.com.
"Session invalid"	Sign out and back in from the panel.
A run stalls on one game	Click ■ Stop run, then open the 📋 Report center; everything read so far is kept. Re-run without that game if needed.

Can I use it on an iPad or phone?

Running an analysis needs Chrome on a computer. To view on a phone or iPad, save the cards as a file (see Take it to your phone or iPad).

Does it work for softball, JV, youth and travel ball?

Yes. Everything works except the Power Rank, which is varsity baseball only. Travel-ball handedness lookups are available by class year (2030–2036).

Does Atala store my scouting reports?

No. Reports and saved files stay on your own computer and devices. The extension only contacts Atala to check your subscription and, if you use them, to look up handedness and roster details.

Contact

Questions or problems: shawn@atalafinancial.com Atala Analytics · Calabasas, CA