Nah, I'd never say that!
You bring up something I was going to write a post about, but I'll just bring up some of the more focal points here...
Desmond's strike outs were mentioned in that post.
We play in a different age. The stigma of the strike out has disappeared. Even becoming normal over the course of a game.
Pitchers are increasing their k totals every year.
I believe it is because not only do chicks dig the long ball, but agents do as well.
Home runs mean more money.
Strike outs are just a bad side effect of swinging harder for those homers.
Desmond finished third in batters striking out last year.
The top 10 in strike outs include batters like Chris Davis, Joc Pederson, Mike Trout, and Michael Taylor.
Davis, Pederson, and Trout also finished in the top 10 for walks.
Sabr loyalists and backers hate strike outs and love walks.
This should not be confused for fantasy players.
The top 10 leading strike out hitters (missers?) had this fantasy line from last year....
.261/82/31/84/9
Those are darned good numbers and even I was surprised at the batting average being as high as .261
Sabr followers prefer a pop up to the catcher over a strike out. To them, it looks better for a hitter not to strike out.
Even though BOTH have the same effect on a baseball game. The batter going back to the dugout and no runners advancing.
As a fantasy player, I flat out do not care that a player strikes out a lot.
ct% means more to Ron Shandler than me.
I care less that a batter walks more than he strikes out.
For many reasons, last year, Miguel Cabrera had the least amount of strike outs then he has ever had in his career.
Nobody celebrated.
Except maybe a sabr or two.
Cabrera had the least amount of homers he had since his rookie year.
THAT is much more important in fantasy terms.
I'm going to pick on poor Joey Votto again here.
The Baseball Forecaster says I'm embarrassing myself for picking on Votto.
The joke's on them, I embarrass myself EVERY DAY.
Every day habits become mundane, even if it's embarrassment.
Votto hit 29 homers last year. Good for him. No seriously, GOOD FOR HIM.
But, I still didn't like what I saw from Votto, and I know he had a very good year.
What I saw was a batter who gave up power with two strikes.
Happy to chip away a foul ball or stroke a ball to the opposite field. There is nothing at all wrong with this from a baseball standpoint. Most coaches preach shortening up and chipping the ball with two strikes.
Again, good for Joey Votto.
In a fantasy sense, though, it isn't easy on the eyes.
Votto hit six homers with two strikes last year. Half of those in the more hitter-advantageous 3-2 count.
On counts of 0-2, 1-2, and 2-2, Votto had three homers and batted .206......206!
Listen to anybroadcaster and they'll tell you that Votto is an excellant two strike hitter.
In a baseball sense, Possibly. In a fantasy sense, no.
If hitting .206 with two strikes, in a pitchers count, why not take a full swing?
Votto will be his team's main power source this year.
Striking out is ok.
Believe me, if he hits .156 in those counts with a few more homers, nobaody will think less of Votto.
Especially his drafters.
Still, as fantasy owners, we can't totally disregard strike outs.
Desmond is still a probable 20/15 player this year.
Strike outs have risen for Desmond.
The problem for Desmond and his owners is that power numbers are not increasing with those strike outs.
All the while, his average is deteriorating.
This is where Ron Shandler, again, can tell me that I'm embarrassing myself.
In Desmond's case, ct% does have meaning....even to me.
Desmond's hr/sb is plateauing and his average is dropping.
This is why his adp has dropped three or four rounds.
I believe that his adp will slowly rise over the next month.
The 'Edgers' will like the dual positionality and late signing free agent adp's go up when signing.
