In his helmet cubbyhole in the Tar Heels' dugout, North Carolina junior outfielder Brandon Riley keeps a journal and a pen.
Before every at-bat, he reads what he wrote in the days before. He writes notes from scouting reports on the pitcher he is about to face. After each at-bat, Riley writes what he noticed from his own plate appearance. What were the pitcher's tendencies? What did Riley do wrong, and what did he do right?
It's an unconventional approach, but one that helped Riley go from an .094 batting average after the first month of the season in February, to the third highest batting average on the team (.