Orioles set strikeout record

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

8 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I think we've passed the point where strikeouts don't really matter because they're correlated positively with power.  Almost everyone strikes out a ton compared to the past, and there are advantages to putting the ball in play (notably you can't really hit much over .300 if you strike out 150 times).  So now a very large percentage of players have the Alfonso Soriano, Dave Kingman, Sam Horn batting skill set.  And no matter how many secondary skills you have (i.e. everything but average) there's kind of cap on how many runs you can create when you hit .220.

An average MLB hitter has to hit well north of .350 on balls in play to hit .300.  At 9.6 K/9 hitting .350 or higher overall is essentially impossible.

More than ever I'm in favor of an alternate major league with a deadened ball, minimum bat sizes, and a 63' 7" pitching distance.  And really long fence distances if at all possible.

I never thought, I would agree with this sentiment but I'm all for this idea now. NBA is suffering from similar problems where offense now iso-ball with players standing around and see which one gets an open look for a three point shot. 

[SteveA]

2 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

It's also a record that gets set almost casually since strikeouts are at or near all time highs, and for most of baseball history were half of the current rate or less.  It's like quoting obscure home run records in 1928, a few years after the era where you could lead the league in homers with 12.

In the first week or so of the 2021 season there have been 36 games with 13 or more strikeouts.  In the entire 1940 season there was one.  In the entire decade of the 1950s there were 106.

True.   But we are the only team that is setting it.   Obviously strikeouts are up so this record is likely to be set now.

But it is still indicative of a trait of our team -- even in this high strikeout environment we strike out at a higher rate than most.

[Yossarian]

The Orioles' team strikeout rate is concerning, not because it is unique to the Orioles (although we do lead the entire majors), it is because the power numbers do not accompany the high strikeout rate.  It's like the old adage used to describe my college football team "Yes, our linemen are small, but they're slow".  

[Yossarian]

To compare with AL East teams, I made up statistics:  Strikeouts per homerun (K/HR) and strikeouts per run scored (K/R) to see how much of a benefit the O's are getting with the "new" style of approach to hitting compared to our peers.

Baltimore:  18.2 K/HR;  3.4 K/R

New York:  9.2 K/HR;  2.2 K/R

Boston:  10.2 K/HR;  1.6 K/R

Toronto:  6.5 K/HR;  2.9 K/R

Tampa Bay:  10.8 K/HR;  2.3 K/R

 

It looks like the O's are not getting a big bang for their high strikeout rate buck.  Either they need to take a new approach to hitting, or they need to get better hitters, it would seem.

[Frobby]

31 minutes ago, Yossarian said:

The Orioles' team strikeout rate is concerning, not because it is unique to the Orioles (although we do lead the entire majors), it is because the power numbers do not accompany the high strikeout rate.  It's like the old adage used to describe my college football team "Yes, our linemen are small, but they're slow".  

True, but let’s see if it holds over a longer period than 7 games.   The O’s have not been a terribly strikeout prone team the last couple of years, and even though there have been some personnel changes, they are not so drastic that I’d necessarily expect the early strikeout surge to last.   

[Just Regular]

Red Sox and Yankees were both Top 5 in AL in pitching strikeouts last year; Mariners and Rangers were Bottom 5 so we'll get a nice Week 2 control.

Trey is obviously rusty - his 2017-2019 his O-Swing%'s were 34-ish and Z-Contact%'s were 82-ish; he's at 40 and 71 this first week.

Sisco and Urias' ability to touch MLB pitches rather shaky.

 

[DrungoHazewood]

56 minutes ago, Frobby said:

True, but let’s see if it holds over a longer period than 7 games.   The O’s have not been a terribly strikeout prone team the last couple of years, and even though there have been some personnel changes, they are not so drastic that I’d necessarily expect the early strikeout surge to last.   

I expect the strikeout rate to stay reasonably high, although not this high.  K rate stabilizes very fast.  But I also expect the other numbers to come up because of both weather and SSS variation.

[Frobby]

12 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I expect the strikeout rate to stay reasonably high, although not this high.  K rate stabilizes very fast.  But I also expect the other numbers to come up because of both weather and SSS variation.

Let’s look at the six main culprits so far:

1.   Ryan Mountcastle, 11 K’s in 30 PA (36.7%).  21.4% last year.

2.  Trey Mancini, 11 K’s in 31 PA (35.5%).  21.1% in 2019.

3.   Rio Ruiz, 10 K’s in 25 PA (40%). 22.5% last year.

4.  Freddy Galvis, 10 K’s in 29 PA (34.5%).   18.9% last year,.

5.  Pedro Severino, 9 K’s in 23 PA (39.1%).    22.5% last year.

6.  Anthony Santander, 9 K’s in 27 PA (33.3%).   15.2% last year.

I’m fairly sure all those are coming down substantially.   The one that worries me most is Mancini, for obvious reasons.

 

 

[Frobby]

On 4/9/2021 at 2:44 PM, Frobby said:

True, but let’s see if it holds over a longer period than 7 games.   The O’s have not been a terribly strikeout prone team the last couple of years, and even though there have been some personnel changes, they are not so drastic that I’d necessarily expect the early strikeout surge to last.   

The O’s are now tied for the second most strikeouts in the AL, dropping off from their early pace. After striking out 91 times in the first 7 games through the day this thread was started, they’ve only stuck out 74 times in the last 9 games.    Of course, you have to factor in that four of those were doubleheader games that went 7-8 innings.    Could have had another 7-10 strikeouts if those had been 9 inning games.   Even so, I don’t expect the O’s to be at the very top end in strikeouts over the full season.  

[Camden_yardbird]

Take a lot of young inexperienced players, add analytics that push a lift swing, deaden the ball allowing for more break on breaking pitches = a lot of strikeouts.