BEFORE MY ARTICLE:
I hate it, and I can almost say it infuriates me. What is that? Missing Mets offense that frankly should NOT be missing. Too many good hitters.
Come on guys, hit. It’s like watching a basketball player you know can shoot going 2 for 19 from the field. Awful to watch the underperformance.
Severino was great, but we’ve seen it too often over the years, when the Mets’ bats just wilt, and the excellent starter gets the shaft.
OK, ‘nuff said - on to my article….
Well, it’s not that the guy NEVER struck out. Joe Sewell did strike out a few times, but yep, that AL Hall of Famer Joe Sewell amazingly fanned just 14 total times in his lowest 4 strikeout seasons. One of the most staggering stats in baseball history, if you ask me.
Some Mets minor leaguers occasionally fan almost that much in one week.
The Hall of Fame page for SS Joe Sewell said this:
“Keep your eye on the ball. It’s one of the most basic tenets of hitting, stressed from the first time a young player picks up a bat. Joe Sewell, however, took it to another level.
“When I was a boy I’d walk around with a pocket full of rocks or a Coca-Cola top,” Sewell said, “and I can’t remember not being able to hit them with a broomstick handle.”
Sewell’s big league career was born out of one of the game’s tragedies. After Indians shortstop Ray Chapman died after being struck by a pitch from the Yankees’ Carl Mays in August 1920, Sewell was called up from the minors. The 21-year-old Sewell played in just 92 minor league games before his big league debut, yet he settled in immediately and helped the Indians win the 1920 World Series title.
Within a few seasons, Sewell had established himself as the game's toughest batter to strikeout. Sewell fanned 20 times in 558 at-bats during the 1922 season, and that would be his career high. He never even reached double-digits in strikeouts in any of his last nine seasons.
During the 1929 season, Sewell went 115 games between punchouts. He ended his career with a rate of 62.6 at-bats per strikeout.
He had seven seasons in which he recorded more than 500 at-bats while striking out less that 10 times. From September 1922 through April 1930, Sewell played in 1,103 consecutive games, the second-longest such streak in history at the time.
Sewell was also known for using only a single bat through his entire career, a 40-ouncer he dubbed “Black Betsy.””
Remarkable.
Yes, pitchers fanned a lot fewer guys in 1924 than in 2024. But a miniscule 114 career strikeouts for Sewell in 13 seasons? Really?
Focusing on today’s game, if I am a Mets minor leaguer struggling with strikeouts, I would be studying what guys like Sewell, Tony Gwynn, Matty Alou (all .300+ hitters) and others did to strike out at extraordinarily low rates.
“Can ANYTHING past stars did help bring your strikeouts down to a good level?”
Otherwise…you’ll play for peanuts for a few years, and then be shown the door.
One recent such player was Sherveyn Newton. He started at age 17 in the Mets system, and just turned 25. He had 2 at bats for Kansas City in spring training and has no minor league stats this year, so I presume his Ks finally caught up with him. He was career .232 in the minors (not terrible, at first glance), but fanned 652 times in 2,124 plate appearances, about 1 every 3.3 times up, and he never got above High A.
His K rate above DSL ball was roughly 1 every 3 times up, way too high.
- Could avidly studying ultra-low K stars of years past have helped him at all?
Another whiffer: Khalil Lee was a very athletic player who fanned far too much. He did go 2 for 20 with (naturally) 13 Ks as a Met. Now 26, he has had a handful of at bats in Mexico this year. But the ship has sailed….910 career Ks in 3,207 minors PAs was a far too high rate and did him in.
My article is not meant as criticism. It is meant to be an offered as a lifeline to scuffling, high K players.
Just to name one ranked current Mets prospect player, Jeremiah Jackson has fanned 164 times in 134 games in 2023 and 2024, That is rough 6 Ks every 5 games, too high.
He likely needs, at a minimum, to flip that, to 5 Ks every 6 games. Sounds like a minimal difference, at first, but JJ’s pace is 145 Ks over 120 games. A “5 Ks in 6 games” pace would instead be 100 Ks over 120 games, a huge difference.
Jeff McNeil (majors and minors) has just 597 Ks in 5,544 PAs, or a K every 9.3 times up. That much lower K rate has led to $60 million in current, prior and future career earnings. Limiting strikeouts can be very lucrative.
HOME AND AWAY SPLITS THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND
Once upon a time, in an NL city far, far away, there was a ballplayer who had 33 HRs, 116 RBIs, and had a slash line of .388/.501/.796.
Amazingly, those were only his home stats that year.
Hack Friggin' Wilson put up those numbers in 78 home games and 289 at bats. He knocked in "just" 75 runs on the road, a very pedestrian number by comparison. 33 of his 56 HRs were hit at home. (He actually hit a 57th, but the ump lost sight of the huge blow and he was not credited for it).
He did that at age 30. At age 31, he knocked in 130 fewer runs. At age 32, he was back up to 123 RBIs.
At ages 33 and 34, he only played in 191 games, with 15 HRs and 84 RBIs in 552 at bats. He then couldn't Hack it any more and retired. His last game was 8 months before his 35th birthday. Apparently, drinking etc. got to affect his game adversely, so it is unclear how he would have done if he had lived on the straight and narrow.
Imagine today if he became a free agent after that 56 HR, 191 RBI, .356 MVP season at age 30? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Oh, and for the Mets' shorter prospects, they might be pleased to know Hack Wilson was just 5'6" tall.
He had an extremely interesting life story, filled with ups and downs, and died from injuries sustained in a fall at age 48.
LAVENDER SEASON-ENDER
The pitching injuries just never stop, do they? It has been reported that Nate the Great Lavender will likely need TJS shortly. So, instead of debuting with the Mets, it seems he will miss the rest of 2024 and likely all of 2025, if he does in fact require that dreaded surgery. Calvin Ziegler just got the despised procedure.
Geez. Quick and full recovery, gents.
MEANWHILE, AN AWARD…
Dom Hamel has been named International League Pitcher of the Week on the strength of 8 Ks in 5 1/3 shutout innings!
I’d walk a mile for a Hamel. I’m sure in those 8 Ks there were no Lucky Strikes.
5 comments:
The 2 run homer off Diaz was hit off a high in the zone fastball at 97. In 2022, he throws that at 101.
“Would Babe Ruth be great today? Look at his numbers!!”
Well, in a 16 team MLB in 1930, 62 hitters were above .300. Six hit above .375, and one hit .401. 6 had 153 RBIs or more. 32 has 100 or more RBIs. And 8 scored 143 runs or more.
Hack Wilson drove in 191, and was the most strikeout prone guy in baseball. He fanned a whopping 84 times.
Hitting was far easier in those days. Who says? The numbers do.
Oh, and pictured HOF Joe Sewell hit just .289 that season, below the .300 average of all players that season, but fanned just 3 times, another ”normal” stat in 1930.
Would Babe be great today? I guess so, but I am not sure. One thing I do know. Babe Herman hit .393 that year, and Ruth just .359, so Ruth wasn’t clearly even the best Babe of 1930.
Remember when we were debating whether to go after Kris Bryant? Well he sucked at age 31 last year, and is 7 for 47 and on the IL this year now at age 32. Stick a fork in, he’s done. Including this season, he is owed $131 million, per Spotrac. Hey, let’s rush out and sign Pete.
I definitely would not give Pete more than 4-5years.
Ray, it is why the Mets hadn't already extended Pete. He is getting older against pitchers who throw extremely hard. You never know when the bat reaction slows a nanosecond or two, and results suffer.
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