I guess it depends on what you’re trying to accomplish. If you’re just trying to create music that’s generated from baseball game data, then the second one is great, but if you’re trying to capture the essence of baseball in said music, I think the first is much more accurate.

If your audience is super familiar with baseball, the second one is more dynamic but if you’re trying to reach a larger audience, I think the first one is better

I think the interface you’re thinking about making and your style of work lends itself to a more artistic interpretation. The sonification should be more abstract so you can approach it narratively. It seems like you want to tell a story here, but the story is secondary right now to the beats.
My biggest question is why don’t the different teams have different sound effects? Even if they were different tones of the same note (flat vs. sharp). Right now there’s no clear auditory way of attributing game actions to a team. The sounds are all the same, and all we’re left with is a sense of when action is occurring, but not for who. Instead of layering all the sounds at once, perhaps just try looking at hits for each team, assign them a different tone, and play that back.
I’d encourage you to look at ways to communicate the ebbs and flows of a game more. Silence is your friend, and right now the audio is too busy. I think the visuals will help a lot, especially if the sounds are sequenced on a visual timeline, but the audio should be a strong narrative on its own.

In the first, I hear 4 things. It sounds like a closed hi-hat, bass drum, snare, and rim shot. Seems like the hi-hat’s keeping time, the snare/rim shots are providing the variation, and the bass drum steadily fading in and out.

In the second, I hear the same 4, except with the bass drum keeping time, snare/rim shots providing variation, and the hi-hat adding extra syncopation.

I like your idea. Might be cool to hear more games using method 1 and 2. I think it needs a clearer legend (ie, aren’t kick drum and bass drum the same?).

I definitely find the real time innings more interesting as they are now. While the sounds could have a baseball feeling to them, like the hit being a clap, I don’t think it’s that important.

You’ve also got a lot to work with in terms of players. They could create an entire orchestra, which you’d hear their part at least 3 times in a game. You could also pick and choose players to create a fantasy team. Instead of sonifying a game, you could sonify a career, or a mixture of careers.

I’m more curious about the actual interaction though. How can I screw with this? Will it always sound good? Am I just swapping out samples or can I have a larger effect on the audio? And how do I do that?

The Second approach feels more dynamic and communicates the intensity of the game, but then loses the aspect of following what is happening in the game and therefore becomes more like dance music.

I therefore prefer the first because I would like to try to follow what is happening in the game.