Gimme Four Strikes Mister
Posted: September 25th, 2008 | Filed under: Baseball | 42 Comments »
Congratulations go out today to Arizona’s Mark Reynolds, who became the first player in Major League history to strike out 200 times in a season. I love, love, love achievements like that. I mean, ANYONE can succeed at this game if they can, you know, hit the ball. But few have been good enough to get enough at-bats to strike out 200 times. In fact, I guess the whole point is that no one ever had before.
You know how they always try to come up with really cool ways to tell you how much $700 billion is by putting it in human terms we might understand? One network — I saw this on Jon Stewart — tried to put the $700 billion buyout in perspective by saying that with that kind of scratch you could buy 2,000 McDonald’s Apple Pies for each and every American citizen.*
*Man, I wish I had been in that planning meeting. What do you think happened there?
Producer: OK, how are we going to explain to people just how much 700 billion is?
Camera person: Like don’t you think people already know that 700 billion is a lot of …
Reporter: I got it. Jump ropes. We ask how many jump ropes you could buy with 700 billion! How much are jump ropes anyway?
Producer: I could check, I have a guy at Target who …
Reporter: Or tires. People always need tires, right?
Camera person: Well, actually, no, we usually …
Producer: I’m feeling your vibe here on the tires thing. But aren’t tires, like, different prices, you know, depending on the make and model of your vehicle.
Reporter: Curses! You’re right. How about mattresses?
Camera person: You know what? Why not just do McDonald’s Apple Pies.
Producer: Hey. Not bad.
Reporter: Warm and delicious. People can relate. How many apple pies we talking about here?
Producer: We’ll get one of our math people on it.
Well, let’s try to put 200 strikeouts in perspective. Placido Polanco has struck out about 200 times times the last six seasons combined. Joe DiMaggio started playing in 1936, and when he went off to war he STILL had not struck out 200 times in his career.* Tommy Holmes came to bat more than 5,500 times, and he did not come CLOSE to striking out 200 times in his career (122 career strikeouts for Tommy-Boy).
*No matter how many times I see it, I am blown away whenever I look at Joe DIMaggio’s numbers and see that he struck out 13 times in 1941. Thirteen times! That’s a day-night doubleheader for our boy Markkkkkkkkkk Reynolds. Of course, pitchers didn’t really get many strikeouts then — Bob Feller struck out 260 that year and led the league by almost 100 — but still, 13 strikeouts in a full year. Amazing. Then again, in 1925, Joe Sewell struck out four times in 699 plate appearances. You know, I might need to close my Baseball-Reference browser and go watch the season premier of The Office.
Of course, the reason Reynolds got all those at-bats is that when he actually connects with said baseball, he’s rather deadly. Here are the best averages in baseball when the batter connects:
1. MannyBManny, .427
2. Chipper Jones, .424
3. Ryan Ludwick, .404
4. Matt Holliday, .396
5. Brad Hawpe, .393
6. Jack Cust Nippin’ At Your Nose, .391
7. Matt Kemp, .390
8. Kevin Youkilis, .390
9. Albert Pujols, .380
10. Lance Berkman, .390
11. Alex Rodriguez, .389
12. Dan Uggla, .386
13. Markkkkkkkkkkk Reynolds, .385
14. Fred Lewis, .384
15. Josh Hamilton, .381
You can discuss the list amongst yourselves. In the meantime, here are the best slugging percentages when the bat and ball make contact:
1. Jack Cust And Was Sent To Timeout, .803
2. Ryan Ludwick, .798
3. Ryan Howard, .798
4. MannyBManny, .778
5. Dan Uggla, .761
6. Carlos Pena, .755
7. Markkkkkkkkkk Reynolds, .746
8. A-Rod, .745
9. A-Dunn, .735
10. Jim Thome, .713
11. Lance Berkman, .713
12. Albert Pujols, .704
13. Kevin “They’re not booing” Youkilis, .702
14. Ryan Braun, .696
15. Mike Jacobs Jersey Day, .692
If Reynolds could sue the league for an extra strike, he might win mulitple MVPs.
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Reynolds also leads MLB in errors by a wide margin.
Hey, if my least favorite team is “Kansas everything, up to and including the debate and chess teams,” should I vote for “KU basketball” or “None of the above”?
For the “Team I Despise Most” poll, I almost clicked on the Yankees, but then I noticed that Kansas basketball was on the list, too. What a conundrum. Yankees or Jayhawks? And then it hit me. At least the Yankees operate in a more free market capitalist way, rather than being part of the NCAA, which is just the athletics police of the socialist world of education. I really dislike the Yankees, and one of my greatest joys during the baseball season is when the Royals beat them, but the Team I Despise Most is the NCAA, followed closely by the National Federation of State High School Associations.
First- I selected Duke after much debate. Number two was the Mets, I think.
Second- this Mark Reynolds thing is fantastic, really. Do you think Ryan Howard will be too preoccupied with the playoff push to be mad about his record being broken to whiff himself silly? 8 weeks ago I would have bet Howard would have had 200k’s in the bag and that the record would have been his alone. But Markkkkk has really stepped up his game.
How great will this season really be if we have two kids with 200k’s? Maybe the boys from Filthydelphia might want to bring Reynolds on in place of Pedro Felice? Could be a magical 2009!
What makes you think he would make contact with an extra swing. He would still probably strike out 165 times.
I voted for the Red Sox, and then immediately realized I should have gone with “Other,” since my most hated team is USC football. Oh well.
Will people please leave Adam Dunn alone now?
Oh, and as for the poll, it’s “Canadiens.” Guy Lafleur would be very upset, Joe.
I go back and forth between the Red Sox and the Mets as my most hated team. Yeah, ‘86 sucked pretty bad for me. Tonight I picked the Mets. Tomorrow…
Ok, so let me get this straight. Mark Reynolds would have better stat totals than Albert Pujols if Mark could just make contact a few more times. And if Chipper or Manny could strikeout just a lil’ less often, they would have a legit shot at batting .400. See, that sums up why I think players like Adam Dunn and Ryan Howard are overrated.
Is voting for Duke basketball the same as voting for Coach K because if not I want a re-vote. Also, if Ohio State is in the National Championship game again I may have to change my mind.
In 1985, the Lakers beat the Celtics four games to two for the NBA championship. And Red Auerbach contended that even though the Lakers won two out of three games in each city, that the Celtics were still the better team. At that moment, despite my fondness for great Celtics players such as Bird and Johnson (that era) and earlier greats, I hated the Celtics. Why they are not on your list of choices is beyond me.
For me, it’s a tie between the Cubs and Yanks. Since I knew everyone else and their brother would be voting for the Yanks, I went with the Cubs.
If you had Yankees and Sox as a combo platter they would have a bigger lead than Obama in Illinois or McCain in Utah.
A plague on both their houses! (Sox and Yankees I mean.)
Sorry for the double post -
I love this site and everything that Joe writes. This is my baseball blog home since Batgirl (www.bat-girl.com archives are still up and are priceless, especially Legovision) went into retirement.
As a Twins fan I wish no ill will on Kansans City, but oh how I would love for the Royals to mail it in this weekend. We can all agree that KC has more in common with Minnesota than with Chicago right?
So if Tony Pena and the boys decide to shut down early please be easy on them. It’s for a good cause!
How can you vote for anyone other than the Yankees?
As a Michigan transplant, I thought long and hard between the OSU Buck’O’s and Notre ‘Come to My Catholic School Even If You Ain’t Catholic’ Dame. I finally chose the Irish…though the nickname still pains me since I am of Irish descent.
I selected None because Joe omitted the St Louis Cardinals and Green Bay Packers.
The bradcasting team of McCarver and Buck should have been a choice too.
broadcasting
With regard to Adam Dunn (and Jason Giambi and some others), I have a theory that the “ability” to swing and miss a baseball contributes not only to their high strikeout totals but their high walk totals too. Counterintuitive I know, but I think it is possible.
Let’s say you are pitching carefully to an Adam Dunn, but you make a mistake with a 2-0 pitch and he takes a mighty whack and misses the ball. You then proceed to throw him two more balls and allow him to go to first.
OTOH, let’s say you are doing the same thing with Albert Pujols, make the same mistake on 2-0. Odds are he hits the ball hard somewhere.
I admit to having no scientific proof of this phenomenon, but I it is my pet theory.
“Mike Jacobs Jersey Day”
Awesome. Made my morning.
Any smart guys out there know why there are more strikeouts thrown now-a-days? Pedro just passed Cy Young for 13th on the all-time list. Didn’t Cy Young pitch in like 2,000 more games than Pete?
I know it’s pretty complicated and there are probably a lot of theories. Maybe a brilliant reader can post a link??
Maybe Joe can do a post on it??
Pretty please??
As a life long (40 years plus) fan of the Red Sox I vote for the Yanks. A big surprise there huh!
The Yanks could play the Cuban National Team and I am rooting for the Commies.
Have a good weekend and weather permitting you can see Derek Jeter’s calm eyes on Fox tomorrow.
Bellweather – my admittedly unscientific theory is twofold:
1. relief pitching. First off, the starters can go all-out for six innings, not trying to save their best pitches for big moments. Second, the relievers are often raw, hard throwers with only one (maybe two) pitches. They’d get destroyed as starters but they’re effective for three or four batters. And of course, all of this means that the hitters have to look at three or four different pitchers, with different stuff, usually throwing from opposite sides.
2. three true outcomes. The stigma of striking out has really faded over time, thanks to guys like Reggie Jackson, Dewey Evans, and other folks who would either kill the ball or fall down trying. I can’t remember who it was now who, in the late 60’s, actually sat down for the final two games of the year to avoid striking out 100 times in a season… (I think it was Lou Brock but don’t quote me.) Nobody cares about that any more. Nobody shortens their swing with two outs, the way I always heard you should do when I was a kid (and I’m not all that old, either).
Part Two -
The funny thing is… for hitters, striking out is really not a huge deal anymore, but for pitchers, a high strikeout rate is usually a solid indicator of skill. Sometimes I wonder what that’s all about…
Green Bay Packers should be on the list. I’ve hated them forever but especially after all this Favre junk I’d have to believe that at least 50% of the population would hate them for wasting our time for 4 months.
Ya know, even as a lifelong Cards fan(I’m talking over 50 years here), seeing Ryan Ludwick’s name on those two lists still has me shaking my head in wonderment.
The sport of the team I hate most isn’t even represented (I hate Liverpool (football) the most) so I voted not on list. If I had to pick from teh teams listed, Boston. As I am English and have only followed baseball for about 5-6 years Boston are a lot worse than the Yankees to me.
Talking of football, when are you going to blog about Fulham Joe? We are well into the season and not one lousy mention, plus they are playing great (bit like KC did at the start of this season). Have you even kept up with their results?
Free Bird!
Ah, yes, and I voted for the Cubs because I hate all teams from Chicago. Actually, I hate all teams from the state of Illinois, professional and collegiate. Hell, even high school teams. You suck, Unity Rockets!
In larger terms, 700 billion dollars is about 700 billion dollars more than I’ll ever have, rounded, and stuff. But I don’t understand this anology, maybe they could give us each a hundred liters of Maker’s Mark, THEN I might forget what’s going on for a bit.
When a guy strikes out a least he isn’t grounding into a double play. An Earl Weaver type of guy.
I don’t know what your cutoff point was for the list, but Mike Napoli of the Angels is slugging .809 when he makes contact (in 220 AB’s). Apparently Jeff Mathis (he of the 55 OPS+ and 13 errors) plays defense well enough to stay in the lineup, but I don’t know. I think this may be one point where Scioscia’s background as a relatively light hitting catcher may obscure his better judgment. Let Napoli play!
And all those strikeouts at such a young age – he’s 24 and he has 330. If he can be any use as a player, he has a serious chance to do some damage to the career strikeout list.
There problem with the Apple Pie explanation:
1) Most people don’t have a graphs of 300,000,000 — the number of people in the USA — either. So, it just punts the issue.
2) I don’t really have a grasp of what 2000 McD’s apple pies would be, and I doubt that anyone else does, either? How big a pile of Apple Pies would that be? Give it to me in some unit and number that I can make sense of. Like, how many Apple Pies would fit in a new Ford Mustang? Or, how many Microsoft Zunes could you buy with that many McDonalds Apple Pies?
Oh, wait. This isn’t about product placement? Well, then, it’s just a dumb way to explain it.
As for the poll, why not do team that that mildly annoys me most. You know, like the the team you dispise 5th most. That wipes out the obvious biggies, and gets it down to a more universal level. Like the Braves. You can’t really hate them, but aren’t they annoying. And the Eagles. Heck, anything and anyone associated with Philadelpia, really.
Nightfly–I’ve heard the theory about relief pitchers being responsible for there being so many more strikeouts now. I have my doubts about this, but here’s some evidence to support this: If you look at the twenty pitchers who have the most strikeouts per nine innings, half of them are still active! Here’s the list
1. Randy Johnson 10.674
2. Kerry Wood 10.386
3. Pedro Martinez 10.081
4. Nolan Ryan 9.548
5. Sandy Koufax 9.278
6. Johan Santana 9.258
7. Jake Peavy 8.964
8. Arthur Rhodes 8.891
9. Sam McDowell 8.858
10. Dan Plesac 8.740
11. Hideo Nomo 8.734
12. Lee Smith 8.732
13. Curt Schilling 8.600
14. Josh Beckett 8.563
15. Roger Clemens 8.552
16. Eric Plunk 8.453
17. Sid Fernandez 8.404
18. J.R. Richard 8.367
19. A.J. Burnett 8.357
20. David Cone 8.284
Despite this, I think there’s something else going on. I’m not sure what it is but some possibilities include an increased emphasis on power, plate discipline not taught as much anymore, the rise in the percentage of night games, changes in the size of the strike zone, and so on.
Nate
Georgia football isn’t on the list because it doesn’t have enough haters, but I would have voted for them. Then *most* Boston Red Sox fans but I don’t really hate the team. I went with nobody.
Most of what I’m interested in is: how is it that dead-ballers don’t have the significant K numbers that pitchers today have.
Walter Johnson, Pete Alexander, Cy Young, Rube Wadell, Three Finger Brown
All of these guys were dominant beyond belief in their day PLUS they threw the same ball all game; a scuffed up, blistered, tobacco-stained DEAD ball.
How come not as many K’s??
I don’t get the whole Apple Pie thing. Forgive me if I do a little math here:
$700,000,000,000/301,139,947 (July 2007 est.) = 2324.50 (almost exactly). I’m with you so far.
But here’s where everything’s screwed up. Anyone with three little kids knows that Apple Pies are 2 for $1! So assuming you were putting all that money into Apple Pies, and you couldn’t get a volume discount * then each person in the US would actually get (using the numbers above) Exactly 4,649 pies. And there’d be a tenth of a penny or so left for each person, or about $386,397 left over.
*which I’m pretty sure you could… wouldn’t you like to be in on that conversation? “You want to haggle on 1.5 TRILLION Apple Pies?!?”
@Nightfly: While it’s true that striking out is not considered such a stigma by the sabermetric community, it’s still looked down upon by the “mainstream” baseball media. Consider the way Adam Dunn tends to get knocked around even though he’ll get you 40 homers and a .380+ OBP every year.
As for why a pitcher is often measured on Ks whereas hitters don’t automatically stink if they strike out a lot, it’s always better for a pitcher to get more Ks because it takes pressure off their defense and reduces the chance of an error or seeing-eye grounder. While the reverse is true for batters, it’s also true that if a batter doesn’t make contact, he has no chance of, say, hitting into a double play. If the bases are loaded with one out, it’s better that you strike out than that you hit a grounder to second. In the same situation, of course, a pitcher would take the strikeout pretty much every time, I think.
[...] Reynolds is capable of being productive when he actually makes contact. As Joe Posnanski points out, his .385 AVG ranks 13th in all of baseball when putting the ball in play. So, the moral here would [...]
Why in the name of all that is hated dont you have the Detroit Red Wings on the list. Talk about evil empire. Not everyone cares about baseball and hating the Yankees. (even though I would have voted for them if there wasnt the other option)
@bellweather
there’s a lot of stuff going on leading to more strikeouts:
five-man rotations allow starters to rest more throughout the season, which means a higher effort each time out….specialists in the bullpen, particularly high-strikeout closers….hitters sometimes seeing three or four different pitchers in one game [different arm angles and release points, arsenals, speeds, handedness] rather than seeing the same guy four or five times….the rise in the power game, as the best way to stop power is to miss bats…
People always defend strikeouts by saying they avoid double plays but how many times has a batter struck out with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs? Seems to happen to the Royals an awful lot. I don’t buy the theory that K’s are ok because they are just an out mainly because thats assuming the batter will make an out if they didn’t k. You know what else are just outs? Sac bunts and caught stealings but people seem to sure hate those.