Around two weeks ago, I listened to a podcast show and the host indicated that a hitter has a very low strikeout rate. Low strikeout rate doesn’t guarantee that a player is a good player. But, it does mean that a batter is really hard to strike out and maybe he’s a good contact hitter.
By far in the 2021 season, Nick Madrigal has been a reliable hitter in the White Sox lineup, slashing .295/.333/.375. It’s not easy to strike out Nick Madrigal. Last season, Madrigal was struck out 7 times in 29 games. At this moment, he was struck out only 6 times in 30 games. Madrigal’s strikeout percentage is only 5% so far. Madrigal seems to be very good at making contact. However, his hard hit rate is below 20% and he’s still looking for his first career home run. But he has two triples this season.
Jeff McNeil was an All-Star in 2019 and he batted over .300 in the last three seasons. But, McNeil isn’t off to a good start in the 2021 season. In 29 games, McNeil only bats .234/.333/.362 with 3 home runs. Additionally, McNeil has 12 walks and is struck out 8 times. McNeil’s strikeout percentage is below 8%. Additionally, McNeil’s strikeout rate was lower than 14% in each of the last 3 seasons.
Kevin Newman had been terrific in spring training, hitting .606/.641/.788. He had 20 hits in 33 at bats. Unfortunately, he didn’t start the season as hot as he did in spring training. Newman only hits .202/.231/.258 with one home run so far. Newman’s k-rate was 23.7% in 2018 and by far the number drops to 7.7%. He does make more contact, but his hard hit rate is lower than 25%.
Tommy Edman has 43 hits, 6th in the majors. The switch hitter continues to make contact and it’s rare to see that he’s struck out. Edman is currently slashing .277/.337/.381. His k-rate was 21.1% last season and it drops to 10.7% by far in 2021.
Whit Merrifield was selected to the 2019 All-Star game and he led in hits in the American League in each of the 2018 and 2019 season. His strikeout percentage was 21.7% in 2016. However, the number goes down and from 2017 to 2020, Merrifield has a below 18% k-rate in each of the last 4 seasons. Currently, Merrifield hits .261/.327/.406 with 4 home runs and his strikeout percentage is 10.7%.
Moreover, 4 other players each have a below 12% strikeout percentage. Francisco Lindor has been hitting as Mets fans expected, but he draws more walks than strikeouts in his first 30 games as a Met.
Strikeout rate has increased gradually and there are more and more strikeouts in the major league. Furthermore, swings and misses have been very common in baseball games. But, some of these players seem to be from a different generation. They are making a lot of contact and it’s not easy to strike them out. In a long season, it’s interesting to see whether a batter can finish a season with a k-rate below 5%. What does that 5% mean? Well, Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn’s career strikeout percentage was 4.2%. In his 20 years of a great career, Gwynn only finished 6 seasons with a k-rate of 5% or above.
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