- Jun 8, 2016
- 16,118
- 113
I spent my whole life trying to swing like Junior.....still didn't make the majors.
Your Dad wasn't Ken Griffey Sr....that helps a bit
I spent my whole life trying to swing like Junior.....still didn't make the majors.
Your Dad wasn't Ken Griffey Sr....that helps a bit
I spent my whole life trying to swing like Junior.....still didn't make the majors.
Everybody's just going to accept the premise that strike outs are entirely (or even mostly) the result of how good/bad a hitter's swing is? Really?
Also, we're just going to accept that not striking out = better hitter even though the best hitter in the entire world strikes out more than 20% of the time?
I do like the idea of modeling someone like Altuve because it's clear he's getting the most out of his size (whereas a big hulking monster can, theoretically, make up for mechanical flaws in the way a speedy outfielder can make up for poor routes/reads/angles), but focusing on low K guys makes a lot of assumptions that haven't been proven (and some that I think are pretty obviously incorrect).
I took Bond's career. He didn't strike out 20% of the time. In 1987, he had 51 ABs, and 88 ks. In 2007, he had 340 ABs and 54 ks. That is a huge span and the point is his consistency even with age. I somewhat understand your point but, imo, a HL hitter does not k 200 times a year nor does a HL hitter get close to that. There is a happy medium where a HL hitter can hit for power and average while putting the ball in play. I would not discount a hitter who puts the ball in play. There are several good things that can come of it. The k is representative of absolute failure. I have more to say but not the time to say it. Have a great day.
Bonds actually proves my point.
Barry Bonds didn't strike out as much as other hitters like him (OK, nobody is truly like him) not just because of his particular swing. He had impeccable plate discipline/pitch recognition. He also just didn't get a ton of pitches to hit because of his power (kind of a snowball effect where his greatness caused pitchers to not challenge him much which led to even greater production).
Similarly, I bet we can find some really beautiful swings from guys who never quite made it.
That was the point I was trying to make, but I don't think I did a great job of it the first time around.