Are too many strikeouts hurting the game of baseball?

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

Ironic that you were the one just lecturing someone about "tired semantics" on the HOF thread.

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

Your argument is pinned on how few runs were scored last season. Clarifying a misleading statistic is neither semantics nor tired. And even if it was, it wouldn't be irony.

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

I think that people could probably figure out that there were more than two runs scored per team last season and 2.5 runs scored per team during the hight of the steroid era without the assistance of God's desker.

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

Technically all of those things can occur on a strikeout. Also, I think you may be greatly overvaluing productive outs. I'm pretty sure both The Hardball Times and Baseball Prospectus have done studies and found there to be little or no correlation between productive outs and winning games over the course of a season.

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

Steak is right. Pitchers have adjusted to the deep count idea, which almost every team preaches now, by throwing more strikes, especially early in counts. At 0-2 or 1-2, any hitter's chances of getting to strike three increase. My pet peeve is when a batter fouls off five or six pitches, then fans, and announcers say he's had a quality at bat. It should be called a quantity at bat.

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

I hate this argument because it's two sides creating strawmen.

Clearly, situational hitting still matters and will always matter.

And clearly past generations put too much emphasis on making contact in situations where it would've been advantageous to swing for the fences. And clearly they bunted far too often and attempted too many steals from players who weren't hitting that 70-percent success threshold, which also reduced the strikeout rate but added (relatively) unproductive outs.

In 20 years we'll figure out what current teams are doing wrong in baseball strategy and laugh. Until then, it seems that the players who are best at getting on base and working counts often strike out because of how deep into a count they get. The trade off is worth it.

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

I think we're giving way too much credit to hitters here, like striking out a ton is some crafted strategy that is paying off.

Runs are down. Way down.

Pitchers are throwing fastballs an average of 5 mph faster today than they were in decades past, from what I read somewhere recently.

Pitching is dominating hitting right now, in the most boring way possible. It's making the game tough to endure, as a fan.

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

I wonder what those statistics look like without B.J. Upton or Dan Uggla's numbers.

A couple of off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts on the 90s Yankees thing ... I'd go along with the idea that teams have adopted that offensive approach to get starters out of the game. As mentioned, the deep counts come with a cost while the starter is in. I'd submit that they also result in hitters seeking three or four pitchers a night, which I would think contributes to the higher number of strikeouts. In the 90s the real flame-throwers were the closers. Now it seems every team has middle and setup relievers who throw in the mid-90s. I have no idea if the data back this up, but it does like a lot of strikeouts have been engineered into the game.

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

Aren't runs down because of reduced steroid usage, as much as anything else?

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

Well, I guess. Less strength equals less bat speed equals less contact equals less runs.

 

Re: Does baseball have a strikeout problem?

It's an intentional byproduct of taking more pitches. The chances of striking out on a two-strike count are infinity times greater than the chances of striking out with no strikes or one strike.

Not sure if this is Seasonal Affective Disorder or what, but something seems to be ruining the beloved game for you every few months. This is really nothing. Personally I get no more enjoyment out of a groundout than a strikeout.