Sewell, while playing full seasons filled with an average of 616 plate appearances over his last 9 seasons, had two season where he fanned 3 times, two others where he fanned 4 times, and who struck out less than 10 times in each of those 9 seasons. Overall, he fanned just 114 times in 8,333 career plate appearances.
Unimaginable. So hard to comprehend, even in a day and age where overall strikeout rates were about 30% of what they are in today's game.
But the game has changed, having undergone a complete 180 in that regard. Nowadays, many guys have fanned 180 or more times, a total of 65 instances, in fact.
Heck, the 200 K level in a season has been breached 14 times, led by Mark Reynolds (223) and Adam Dunn (222).
Adam Dunn and Chris Davis eclipsed 180 Ks in a season 5 times, with Mark Reynolds and Ryan Howard accomplishing it 4 times. Some guys, though, like Giancarlo Stanton (211) and Aaron Judge (208) only made the list once each because they always seem to be hurt.
NY Met Pete Alonso's rookie season ended with 53 HRs AND the 53rd highest strikeout total in MLB history, at 183.
Former Met Dave Kingman, always thought of for his power AND whiffs? A career high of a mere 156.
In fact, there have been 500 instances of 144 or more strikeouts in a season.
Darryl Strawberry never made the list, maxing out at 141 Ks.
And the ultra high K trend seems, as best I can recollect, to have started with a short-lived slugger named Dave Nicholson, who in 1963 fanned 175 times in just 126 games. He was a man ahead of his time with Bobby Bonds (who fanned 187 and 189 times in 1969 and 1970) to follow soon thereafter.
Well, that is all I have to say on the subject.
Hope I struck a chord and didn't strike out here.
Have a great day.
And a Merry, Healthy Christmas.
6 comments:
I thought the swing and a miss was the exclusive and trademarked slogan to represent any decision made by Terry Collins?
Making very solid contact on perhaps Reese's final Terry Collins jab of 2020!
Happy holidays.
I still cannot comprehend Joe Sewell being up about 2500 times in his 4 lowest K years and fanning just 14 times in that span.
Merry Chrstmas and happy holidays! Thank you for all the great content and comments throughoout the year!
Hey Tom, hope all is well with you and everyone at my old alma mater, Mack's Mets. I thought it interesting that you mentioned Dave Nicholson as the originator of the high K tendencies. It brought to mind another Nicholson, Bill, whose nickname was Swish, although he never struck out more than 91 times in a season. In fact, he walked more than he struck out in many seasons. The nickname came from his prodigious home run swings. Ah yes, I remember him well.
TP, thanks from all of us, and so glad you’re enjoying it. Merry Christmas!
Herb, always great to hear from you. I can be strange, but don’t you be a stranger! Happy healthy holidays from all of us to you. And it’s a good thing Jack Nicholson swished in the Shining 🤩
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