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Lowest strikeout rates by a batter

Posted by Andy on July 3, 2011

This came up on a recent thread so I looked it up. Since 1991 here are the batters who qualified for the batting title and struck out less than 4.75% of the time (i.e. K < .0475 * PA):

Rk Player Year SO PA Tm G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB BA OBP SLG OPS Pos
1 Placido Polanco 2007 30 641 DET 142 587 105 200 36 3 9 67 37 .341 .388 .458 .846 *4/D
2 Placido Polanco 2005 25 551 TOT 129 501 84 166 27 2 9 56 33 .331 .383 .447 .830 *4/576
3 Juan Pierre 2004 35 748 FLA 162 678 100 221 22 12 3 49 45 .326 .374 .407 .781 *8
4 Juan Pierre 2003 35 746 FLA 162 668 100 204 28 7 1 41 55 .305 .361 .373 .734 *8
5 Juan Pierre 2001 29 683 COL 156 617 108 202 26 11 2 55 41 .327 .378 .415 .793 *8
6 Mark Grace 2000 28 621 CHC 143 510 75 143 41 1 11 82 95 .280 .394 .429 .824 *3
7 Tony Gwynn 1998 18 505 SDP 127 461 65 148 35 0 16 69 35 .321 .364 .501 .865 *9/D
8 Tony Gwynn 1997 28 651 SDP 149 592 97 220 49 2 17 119 43 .372 .409 .547 .957 *9/D
9 Ozzie Guillen 1997 24 527 CHW 142 490 59 120 21 6 4 52 22 .245 .275 .337 .612 *6
10 Tony Gwynn 1995 15 577 SDP 135 535 82 197 33 1 9 90 35 .368 .404 .484 .888 *9
11 Tony Gwynn 1994 19 475 SDP 110 419 79 165 35 1 12 64 48 .394 .454 .568 1.022 *9/8
12 Ozzie Smith 1993 18 603 STL 141 545 75 157 22 6 1 53 43 .288 .337 .356 .693 *6
13 Tony Gwynn 1993 19 534 SDP 122 489 70 175 41 3 7 59 36 .358 .398 .497 .895 *9/8
14 Mark Grace 1993 32 676 CHC 155 594 86 193 39 4 14 98 71 .325 .393 .475 .867 *3
15 Felix Fermin 1993 14 514 CLE 140 480 48 126 16 2 2 45 24 .263 .303 .317 .619 *6
16 Gregg Jefferies 1992 29 657 KCR 152 604 66 172 36 3 10 75 43 .285 .329 .404 .733 *5/4D
17 Brian Harper 1992 22 546 MIN 140 502 58 154 25 0 9 73 26 .307 .343 .410 .753 *2/D
18 Tony Gwynn 1992 16 569 SDP 128 520 77 165 27 3 6 41 46 .317 .371 .415 .786 *9
19 Tony Gwynn 1991 19 569 SDP 134 530 69 168 27 11 4 62 34 .317 .355 .432 .787 *9
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/2/2011.

asdas

Related posts:

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    Lowest RBI per HR ratios in history
    Lowest SLG with 450+ ABs, last 20 years
    Luis Castillo and lowest SLG/OBP ratios
    Tony Gwynn hit .400

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 3rd, 2011 at 7:15 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

34 Responses to “Lowest strikeout rates by a batter”

  1. Model Citizen Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 7:53 am

    Worst move the Tigers ever made was trading Polanco!

  2. Hartvig Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 9:39 am

    One common denominator that jumps out is that they're all also reluctant to take a walk, with the notable exception of Grace.

  3. Michael Sullivan Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 9:45 am

    I'm surprised not to see ichiro or vlad on this list. Tony Gwynn is the only top class hitter to appear.

  4. ToddWE Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 9:59 am

    I'm really surprised Wade Boggs didn't make the list. I remember reading once that over the course of one full season, he swung and missed at a pitch 11 times!

    It looks like Boggs came close quite a few times post-1991. He would have qualified in 1988, a season in which he also walked 125 times.

  5. John Autin Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:24 am

    @4, ToddWE -- I think it would be hard for such a selective hitter as Boggs to make this list. One of the reasons that he amassed so many walks is that he didn't expand his zone (much) with 2 strikes; one consequence of that is a decent number of called strike 3's.

    Generally, guys with super-low K rates do not see a lot of pitches per time up. Polanco has averaged 3.40 P/PA for his career; Gwynn, in the years for which we have data, averaged 3.35; Boggs (same caveat) averaged 4.13.

  6. Daniel Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 11:09 am

    How did Grace, Guillen, Jeffries, Fermin, and Smith qualify for the Batting title in the seasons used for examples on this list?

  7. Neil L. Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 11:13 am

    Wow, Tony Gwynne with 3 of the top four 4 HR seasons on the list. I didn't remember him having that much pop in his bat.

    Mostly high-average, singles hitters on the list.

    And why oh why does a certain player keep popping up in the blogs, time after time? 🙂

  8. Library Dave Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 11:33 am

    The player that stands out to me as not belonging on this list (compared to the careers of the other players) is Felix Fermin. But I still look at his lifetime 67 OPS+ and think to myself, "man, I'd kill for his career."

  9. Andy Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 12:04 pm

    Daniel, not sure what you're asking. A player needs to have a certain number of plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. These days it's 3.1 PAs per game played by the player's team.

    And, yes, Juan Pierre does seem to be coming up a lot...

  10. thomas Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    The Tigers didn't trade Polanco. He signed in Philly as a free agent.

  11. Joseph Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    Any body notice that Gwynn struck out less then 4.75% of the time over his entire career? Or did I do the math wrong? Either way, that's pretty remarkable (such a low strike out rate is remarkable. my inability to perform simple math is also.).

  12. Richard Chester Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    @11

    Joe Sewell, who played prior to 1991, had a career K rate of 1.37%.

  13. DavidRF Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    @11
    Yup. Very impressive. Gwynn led the NL in AB/SO ten times. I think only Nellie Fox led the league in that stat more times.

    AB/SO values have been drifting down over history though. So, Gwynn's career total is only 98th all-time.

    http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/at_bats_per_strikeout_career.shtml

    The post-war entries on that list are worth listing separately. I see Nellie Fox, Dale Mitchell, Don Mueller, Red Schoendienst, Glenn Beckart, Felix Millan, Vic Power, Bobby Richardson, Bill Buckner.

  14. Fourfriends1679 Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 3:50 pm

    Surprised not to see Bill Buckner. At his best, he was even tougher to strike out than Boggs.

  15. Steve Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 4:05 pm

    12 Yeah,he was amazing.Took some walks too,so he wasn't a swinger.

  16. Timmy p Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 6:54 pm

    Pierre, Grace, Ozzie(s), Tony Gwynn! What a great list of under appreciated players.

  17. TapDancingTeddy Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 7:10 pm

    Joe DiMaggio is the best known example of a power hitter who didn't strike out. Only 369 K in 7671 PA. Of course, if the list went back to his era, he still wouldn't have made it at .0481 percent K rate.

    But are there other examples of power hitters who had similar HR to K numbers like DiMaggio's 361HR to 369K?

    @6 if a team plays 162 games only 502 PA are required to qualify for the batting title. The number is less in strike shortened seasons such as 1994 where Tony Gwynn had only 475 PA but played in every one of his team's games. Then it would be 3.1 X 110 or 341 PA.

  18. Gerry Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 7:23 pm

    Yogi Berra was another power hitter who didn't strike out much - 358 homers, 414 strikeouts. Not quite DiMaggio class, but close.

  19. Steve Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 8:24 pm

    Ted Williams and Johnny Mize didn't strike out much either for power hitters.

  20. Richard Chester Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:06 pm

    The SABR Baseball List & Record Book (2006) Ed. h

  21. Richard Chester Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:06 pm

    @20

  22. Neil L. Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    @16
    Timmy P., in what way do you think Tony Gywnn was underappreciated? I think most observers would rank Gywnn as one of the smartest, purest, hitters in baseball.

  23. Richard Chester Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:16 pm

    @20 , @21

    I accidentally submitted those posts before I was through. I will try again.
    The SABR Baseball List & Record Book (2006) Ed. Has a list of the best career K/HR ratio (250 HR min.).
    The top ten are:
    Joe DiMaggio 1.02
    Yogi Berra 1.16
    Ted Kluszewski 1.31
    Ted Williams 1.36
    John Mize 1.46
    Stan Musial 1.47
    Albert Pujols 1.58
    Lou Gehrig 1.60
    Chuck Klein 1.74
    Mel Ott 1.75

  24. RUDY SAVIANO Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:25 pm

    Wonder why for the first time since '91 we have gone 3 full seasons without anyone making the list.

  25. Richard Chester Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:32 pm

    @23

    As of today Pujols ratio is still 1.58.

  26. Mustachioed Repetition Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:36 pm

    Richard/49, and DiMaggio, Berra, and Mize were teammates for champion teams '49-'51. (Mize only joined the '49 team late in the season, and only had two PA in the Series, but they resulted in two huge hits.)

  27. Mustachioed Repetition Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:37 pm

    Uh, I meant Richard/23. Guess I confused a championship season with the post number.

  28. Joseph Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:37 pm

    @ 23, I think Lefty O'Doul deserves an honorable mention with 1.07, and a .532 slugging %. (Higher than Ted Kluszewski and just a tick behind Mel Ott).

    I always wonder what he could have done if he started as a batter at 21 instead of 31.

  29. ken Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:47 pm

    Always nice to see my friend Juan Pierre getting some love! 🙂

  30. Richard Chester Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 10:48 pm

    @28

    O'Doul had only 113 HR, that's why he is not on the list.

    Going into his final season DiMaggio actually had 16 more HRs than Ks.

  31. Joseph Says:
    July 3rd, 2011 at 11:13 pm

    @30, Richard: That's why I wrote "honorable mention". He was a hitter with excellent power, but had a very late start in his hitting career.

  32. Rich Says:
    July 4th, 2011 at 4:19 am

    @ 16
    Who underappreciates Tony Gwynn and Ozzie Smith? I could see maybe Mark Grace.

    Ozzie Guillen and Pierre just weren't/aren't very good. Guillen at least played SS, though he was nothing special at it.

  33. Dave Says:
    July 4th, 2011 at 11:34 am

    That Tony Gwynn guy was pretty good.

  34. Daniel Says:
    July 4th, 2011 at 3:56 pm

    @ 9

    I thought qualifying for the batting title meant that their average had to be high enough to lead the league in Batting Average along with having a minimum of 3.1 PA per game. For instance, it wouldn't be that impressive to not strikeout a lot if they were only batting .245 or ,263.

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