Solid analysis on striking out

[santo=dorf]

I thought this was an interesting read, especially with some of the whining in the Jim Thome thread

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AqP5...o&type=lgns

I care,” said Dunn, a Washington Nationals outfielder. “But it depends on when you’re striking out. If you strike out with two outs and nobody on, who gives a (expletive)?”

 

A huzzah echoed from across the room.

 

“Who gives a (expletive) if you strike out, period?” a teammate shouted.

Yahoo! Sports analyzed the past full decade of games and found that in the greatest era of striking out baseball has seen – there were 316,274 from 1999 to 2008 – there is no connection between the number of times a team strikes out in a season and the number of runs it averages per game. The correlation coefficient between strikeouts and runs was .075, which means the relationship is so negligible there is no relationship.

Dunn’s is very simple: He produces. If he hits five more home runs this season, he’ll be the first player ever to hit 40 home runs and walk 100 times in six consecutive years. Babe Ruth didn’t do that. Mickey Mantle didn’t do that. No one. So for all of those pitches Dunn stares at with an empty face, he compensates plenty.

 

“It’s production, right?” Dunn said. “Scoring runs, driving in runs, brother. That’s what it comes down

So the likeliest candidate is 872 away, and while that seems like a lot, it should take Alex Rodriguez(notes) about seven years to break it, provided he stays healthy. And in a way, it’s appropriate that A-Rod will own the record, because before he admitted using steroids, the general feeling in baseball was that Rodriguez would go down among the all-time greats, his raw power and hitting aptitude amalgamating into a near-unparalleled hitting savant.

 

No one said a thing about his strikeouts.

 

[whitesoxfan101]

The only time I find a strikeout bothersome is if you have a man on 2nd with nobody out or a man on 3rd with less than two outs, since those are spots where a properly placed out or two can get you a run. Otherwise, who cares if you strike out? It's so overrated, especially by some Sox fans since we see the Twins chop it off the turf and run so much (and even that crap will end in 2010, they will have to enter the 21st century).

[ThunderBolt]

Dunn's main asset is his skill at getting on-base. Sure he strikes out, but he also has massive pop and walks an insane amount. His plate disipline is what seperates him from K-heavy guys like C Young and Francouer.

[witesoxfan]

Thome's main asset is his skill at getting on-base. Sure he strikes out, but he also has massive pop and walks an insane amount. His plate disipline is what seperates him from K-heavy guys like C Young and Francouer.

 

not fixed, because you were right...just trying to keep things in perspective with some of Soxtalk