Question: In this era of baseball, do we really care all that much about strikeouts? Right now, there are 44 players with over 100k's. 18 over 120.

 

This is a sorted list by strikeouts. Napoli: 29 Hr's 83 RBI. Sheezzzzzz......

 

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp#elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Player+hitting&game_type=%27R%27&season=2016&season_type=ANY&league_code=%27MLB%27&sectionType=sp&statType=hitting&page=1&ts=1471191529795&sortColumn=so&sortOrder=%27desc%27&extended=0

Even in this era, a 35% K rate is pretty high, and pretty much precludes one from being an elite offensive force, even if you can still manage to be a decent power hitter.

 

Think early Miguel Cabrera -- I doubt the Marlins were trying to shorten his swing, yet he cut his K rate in each of his 2nd, 3rd, and 4th seasons, and went from a nice young power hitter, to an absolute beast of a MVP candidate.

Yup, and he wasn't shaving fractions of a percent off during that span. After whiffing 24% of the time in his rookie year, he cut down nearly 3% in his first full season and another 3% the following year. He leveled off at about 18% over 4 seasons, but then cut down again, sitting right around 14% for the next four seasons.

 

Nobody is saying he's MigCab Jr, but that's at least one example of a guy who was able to lower his K rate by 10 points while not only not sacrificing power but adding it, going from an ISO in the low .200's to the middle and even high .200's during that span.

Huge, huge fan. Hoping he continues to grow as a player, but even if he only stays here, big fan.

Obviously a small sample size compared to most everyone else on the last, but from 2015-present, for players with at least 650PA, Sano is tied with Bautista at 19th in wRC+.

Edited August 17, 201610 yr by jimmer