After missing the entire 2021 season, Justin Verlander is back. When Verlander is healthy, he’s surely one of the most dominant pitchers on the mound. He tossed 175 innings in 2022, posting an outstanding 1.75 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP. Additionally, in the postseason, he just passed Clayton Kershaw for the most strikeouts of all time. Verlander now has 230 strikeouts in the postseason. While seeing his record, I’m just thinking about the hitters in the postseason. Which batters actually were struck out a lot in the postseason?
Well, Hall of Famer Derek Jeter was struck out 135 times in the postseason. His teammate Jorge Posada was struck out 100+ times in the playoffs as well. These two players did have rich experience in the postseason. Jeter played 158 games in the postseason and he had 200 hits in the postseason, both are the most in MLB history. Posada played 125 games in the playoffs and had 492 plate appearances.
Moreover, Manny Ramirez won the World Series Champions twice with the Red Sox. He played 111 games in the playoffs and was struck out 91 times. Nonetheless, Manny Ramirez crushed 29 home runs in the postseason. Additionally, among active players, Cody Bellinger was struck out 87 times in the postseason. Bellinger made it into the big leagues in 2017 and since then he has played in the postseason for 6 consecutive years.
Furthermore, Bernie Williams was struck out 85 times in the playoffs. Williams played 121 games in the postseason and had 545 plate appearances.
Now, let’s look at the single postseason.
Bellinger surely has rich experience in playing October baseball. However, in his first season with the Dodgers, he was struck out 29 times in the postseason. In particular, in the 2017 World Series, Bellinger had 29 plate appearances and he was struck out 17 times. That’s also the MLB record in a single World Series.
Brandon Lowe didn’t play in October this year. However, he did play in the postseason from 2019 to 2021. Over the last 3 postseasons, he was struck out 47 times in 120 plate appearances. In particular, he was struck out 28 times in the 2020 playoffs. Last postseason, Lowe went hitless in 18 plate appearances and he was struck out 9 times.
Finally, Carlos Correa was punched out 27 times in 74 plate appearances in the 2019 postseason. Additionally, Aaron Judge was struck out 27 times in 57 plate appearances in the 2017 postseason. In Particular, Judge was punched out 16 times in the 2017 ALDS. Moreover, Mike Zunino had 27 strikeouts in 56 plate appearances in the 2020 playoffs.
It’s certain that a batter doesn’t want to be struck out. However, strikeout is just part of the game and inevitable. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada were each struck out more than 100 times in the postseason. Nonetheless, most people remember that they won the World Series titles with the Yankees. By far in the 2022 postseason, Rhys Hoskins crushed 6 home runs and J.T. Realmuto blasted 3 home runs, but they each have been struck out 23 times in 16 games.
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