The worst time to strike out
Many pundits have already stated their preference for the 2016 World Champions: the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs are now an outstanding amalgam of youth and experience at the plate, in the field, and on the mound. But as ye olde English proverb states: “There’s many a slip ‘twixt the cup and the lip.”
One of the areas that the Cubs need to work on is their tendency to strike out. They do it a lot. And there is one thing that all baseball people will agree on, whether they are into analytics or traditional baseball, that the worst time to whiff is when there is a runner on third and less two outs.
Call it coincidence or call it karma, but the two teams that struck out the least when there was a runner on third and less than two outs, were the World Champion Royals and the NL champion Mets. Now, I lean toward coincidence because two last or near-last place teams in their respective East divisions were next on the list. Nevertheless, the fact that the KC and NYM were tops makes for a nice story.
Oh, and take a look at what team struck out the most.
Most Strikeouts with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs (2015)
Rk | G | SO | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | KCR | 118 | 34 |
2 | NYM | 111 | 36 |
3 | ATL | 109 | 40 |
4 | BOS | 121 | 40 |
5 | CLE | 119 | 45 |
6 | TEX | 130 | 47 |
7 | CHW | 121 | 48 |
8 | PIT | 121 | 48 |
9 | MIL | 121 | 50 |
10 | MIA | 115 | 50 |
11 | WSN | 114 | 50 |
12 | LAD | 113 | 52 |
13 | LAA | 117 | 54 |
14 | TOR | 126 | 55 |
15 | OAK | 124 | 55 |
16 | SFG | 117 | 55 |
17 | SDP | 109 | 56 |
18 | BAL | 110 | 57 |
19 | DET | 124 | 57 |
20 | CIN | 116 | 59 |
21 | PHI | 120 | 59 |
22 | NYY | 122 | 60 |
23 | SEA | 113 | 62 |
24 | COL | 121 | 62 |
25 | TBR | 120 | 63 |
26 | STL | 125 | 63 |
27 | ARI | 120 | 64 |
28 | MIN | 126 | 70 |
29 | HOU | 116 | 70 |
30 | CHC | 120 | 84 |
Here are the players who whiffed 10+ times with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs (2015)
Rk | Player | G | SO | PA |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kris Bryant | 34 | 17 | 39 |
2 | Chris Davis | 33 | 13 | 36 |
3 | Starlin Castro | 35 | 12 | 45 |
4 | Ian Desmond | 27 | 12 | 34 |
5 | Yasmany Tomas | 22 | 11 | 24 |
6 | Brandon Belt | 28 | 11 | 29 |
7 | Ryan Howard | 27 | 11 | 29 |
8 | Kole Calhoun | 37 | 10 | 40 |
9 | Justin Upton | 33 | 10 | 37 |
10 | Brandon Moss | 26 | 10 | 30 |
11 | Marcus Semien | 33 | 10 | 37 |
12 | Albert Pujols | 39 | 10 | 39 |