K's

[blackgold61]

Can someone please explain to me why Vanderbilt is consistently at the top of the SEC in strikeouts? They led the league in K's in 2014, 2015 and 2016. They had the 5th most in 2017. Their strikeout % for those years are 2014- 19.6% 2015 - 24.3% 2016 - 25.5% and 2017 - 22.1%. We have had great success even with those numbers but why are they so high? The ball needs to be put into play more. So far this year we are leading the SEC in K's again striking out 27% of the time. Those numbers don't even include todays games and we struck out a lot today.

[vu2003rpl]

I agree with you. I'm also really confused about the very high number of strikeouts the last couple years.

It's strange to say it, but it just doesn't seem to be a priority for Corbin. I agree with your statement that we've had a lot of success despite the proclivity to strike out.

But it's a real mystery to me about our plate discipline.

Edit: but then, maybe this is not a Vanderbilt issue. Maybe it's just the culture of baseball these days. I cannot tell you the last time I saw a collegiate baseball player choke up on the bat with two strikes.

[memphisVUalum]

Re choking up on the bat:
https://jugssports.com/why-dont-players ... at-anymore

One of the reasons cited is that, “No one uses the big bats or the big handles anymore. They’re light, light bats. If some of these guys choked up, they’d have nothing left.”

[Commodoredave]

Just a theory of mine...Corbin always talks about how he likes multi-sport athletes who aren't full time baseball guys. Putting a bat on a ball thrown 90mph takes a tremendous amount of skill development over and above the natural talent or athleticism. Guys who live and breathe baseball 365 days a year from the time they are 8 to 18 are less likely to strikeout.
Of course I have no proof of this and don't care to invest the time to back up my claim.

[sidewalkdore]

MLB hitting has changed to HR or SO instead of base hits.. I have heard that from a lot of different folks... well Vandy seems to have the SO part down pretty well.

[fldore]

I was talking about this in another thread. It's not just a recent development. If you go back 10 years we were usually in the mid to high teens in terms of strikeouts to atbats. We've been slowly ticking up since then and now are at our highest level ever. I have no provable theory about why this is either. I threw out the same idea as someone mentioned above where I had heard Corbin likes to recruit athletes who are good defenders and turn them into baseball players. And in my mind hitting a baseball is unique skill that doesnt necessarily go hand in hand with physical athleticism. You can have great eye hand coordination but zero ability to run fast or jump high. But then again I dont follow recruiting very closely so I have no way to back any of that up. It would be interesting to know if the guys we recruit were also high strikeout guys in high school... well at least compared to other top prospects.


admittedly I realize strikeouts to atbats isnt the ideal ratio. you really want strikeouts to plate appearances but when I checked the other day I was too lazy to add up all the walks, HBP, sac attempts, etc.. I'm betting we'd see the same upward trend through.

[fldore]

I just found an easy way to pull strikeouts to total plate appearances. This year isnt actually our worst. Although it's still not great. If our K/AB is the highest ever then we must be taking a higher percentage of walks or hbp. Anyways the worsening trend is still apparent.

2003 17.5%
2004 16.7%
2005 15.2%
2006 16.1%
2007 16.8%
2008 18.4%
2009 17.9%
2010 16.9%
2011 15.9%
2012 20.5%
2013 17.6%
2014 19.6%
2015 24.4%
2016 25.5%
2017 22.2%
2018 22.9%

Interestingly, throughout this entire time period(excluding 2018) the player with the highest SO/PA, with more than 250 atbats is Jeren Kendall. Julian Infante may surpass him though by the time this year is done.

[vujoe]

I believe that you can teach the skill of batting. It is recognizing the tendency of pitchers and anticipating what type of pitch you are likely to get.