Strikeouts eclipse hits for 1st season
Overall average lowest since 1972
NEW YORK — The most-heard sound at major league ballparks this year was “Strike three!”
A whiff of offense would be nice rather than all those nights filled with nonstop whiffs.
Strikeouts will exceed hits over a full season for the first time in major league history. The overall batting average has dropped to its lowest level since 1972, the year before the designated hitter. Lefty hitters — facing smothering defensive shifts — have fared even worse, with their lowest average since 1968, before the pitcher’s mound was lowered.
Starters throw fewer pitches and hard-throwing relievers are changed more frequently. The game has transformed at a dizzying pace.
“We need to thoughtfully review the trends,” baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday.
Manfred looks ahead to a postseason featuring 20-year-old Atlanta star Ronald Acuna Jr., Boston, the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs and possibly Los Angeles Dodgers, too.
But much of the offseason will be spent analyzing historic changes.
There were 40,196 strikeouts and 40,098 hits through Wednesday, and Ks exceeded hits over a full month for the first time in April, then again in June and September.
Before this year, the previous low differential for a full month was in April 2017 when there were 138 more hits than strikeouts, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Strikeouts have set a record for the 11th consecutive season, surpassing last year’s 40,104.
The .248 big-league batting average is down seven percentage points from last year and a Steroids Era high of .271 in 1999, part of an all-ornothing approach at the plate. And the .244 average for left-handed hitters is the lowest since .242 in 1968, according to Elias, diminished by defensive shifts placing three infielders on the right side.
No wonder batters swing for the fences.
“Years ago, if a player had more strikeouts than hits, they didn’t get out of Class A ball,” said Dan Duquette, the Baltimore Orioles’ executive vice president of baseball operations, who went on to suggest his solution.
“Ted Williams had some good ideas: three balls and you go to first base; make home plate smaller so you don’t have to defend as much territory,” Duquette said.
“It’s something to consider, because, really, it’s an entertainment business, right? That’s what the fans want to see. It’s a good place to start the discussion. Who am I to argue with the greatest hitter that ever lived?”
The analytics revolution has metamorphosed this most traditional of sports. Innings per starting pitcher dropped from 5.89 in 2012 to 5.38 this year and pitches per start from 95 to 88 over the same period, according to Sports Info Solutions.
Pitchers per game for both teams rose from 7.68 to 8.34 over that span, according to Major League Baseball, with average fastball velocity increasing from 91.6 mph to 92.8 mph over the past six years, according to Sports Info.