The letters aren't what you want to see on a report card. F's, C's, a few SL's.

The F's are good -- or bad depending on how you hit a fastball -- and each C (for the curveball) could mean the difference between a strike or a hit up the middle.

Opposing pitchers, their pitch counts, their tendencies, their ball placement, each dot signifies where the ball goes when the pitcher hurls it across the plate.

The dots are studied against left-handed hitters, right-handed hitters and as much by the hitters themselves.

That kind of preparation, scrutinizing batting practice and knowing about Northern League pitchers has helped the RailCats put themselves in second place in hitting in the league. The same team finished last in the league in hitting in its 2007 championship season.

"It seems like our offense is more explosive this year than it was last year," said infielder Eric Blakeley, who was inactive until early June. He has a .238 batting average with 15 hits, including three homers, in his 17 games this season.

The RailCats have outhit their opponents 19 times this season, 11 times for wins.

Last season, the club averaged 9.04 hits per game. This season, that number has ballooned to 10.60.

There are a few explanations and clubhouse theories: Fewer teams in the Northern League mean that pitchers will be seen more often; advantage hitter.

Or, at this point in the season, batters have as many as 150 at-bats so are starting to hit their groove; advantage hitter. Or new RailCats batting coach Kenny Graham is just that good.

"It's all them, it has nothing to do with me," Graham said laughing. "(Manager Greg Tagert) and I talk before every game about each pitcher and what we're going to do and what our plan can be at the plate. It's those guys that do it and go perform at the plate. We were very successful earlier because we were having good at-bats."

Sheer rhythm and number of at-bats helps, too.

Blakeley, who teaches young baseball players how to swing at Diamond Kings, starts the season late because of his day job and spends pre-practice swinging for pitchers who are trying out for the team. As much as he's improving his swing, he's taking more and more "non-game" at-bats.

"It's just the rhythm, trying to see more pitches," Blakeley said. "To try to come in and see all these guys hitting really well, it's a lot of pressure to get back. It's a lot of pressure trying to get my swing down."

When the RailCats are facing a pitcher they know, the tendencies are easier to gauge. Like Matthew Varner from Schaumburg, who started four games against the RailCats, all in the month of June. In his 22 innings the RailCats threw up a 9.41 ERA against Varner. And he was 0-4.

But against a pitcher Graham can find no information about, like Billy Weitzman, who hadn't pitched in four years before Fargo-Moorhead put him on a plane to Chicago in time to earn his first win since 2004, there are other tactics.

"For a pitcher we don't have a lot of information on, we're going to see a lot of pitches, especially the first time through the order," Graham said. "Our leadoff guy, as soon as he's done with his at-bat, he's going into the dugout and telling the rest of the guys 'OK, fastball moves a little bit, fastball straight, sharp breaking ball' whatever the case may be.

"Our guys are very good because they are very inquisitive of guys who have been at the plate and have seen a pitcher."