Hey Pedro! Yeah I'm Talking to You!

Yeah you, Pedro Martinez, do you know any other Pedro Martinez's?? We're gonna have words, pal!

I get it that Pedro was probably the best pitcher to ever play the game of baseball. Yeah, sure, fine. But much too much is made about his "feat" of striking out Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Jeff Bagwell in a row in the 1999 all-star game. B.F.D. If I was there I would only have one thing to say to Pedro's face:

hey pedro, why don't you try striking out a real man!

Me? Heck no, I wasn't talking about me. I meant a real man like Joe Sewell, Charlie Hollocher or Tommy Holmes!

LOWEST K% SEASONS ALL TIME

min 650 PA

Of the top 100 lowest K% seasons, not a single one occurred after 1976-- a testament to how much the game has changed, for sure. Whats striking to me however, is that each one of these seasons is considered above average by both OPS+ and wRAA. Not because swinging and missing is a necessarily a good thing, but we've all grown up with the presumption that a low K% is the mark of a slap-hitter. And if we glance at the lowest K% seasons after 1976, this presumption is justified, as the results aren't quite as generous.

 LOWEST K% SEASONS AFTER 1976



Since 1920 here is a look at all batting seasons with strikeout rates below 5% and how they rate by wRAA:

min 650 pA

Naturally the quantity of these types of seasons has dropped, and for the most part so has the quality. The last two players to strikeout in less than 5% of their plate appearances and still post a wRAA over 50 were Boggs and Mattingly in their 1988 and 1986 seasons. The three most recent seasons below 5% were all courtesy of Juan Pierre in 2004, 2003, and 2001. none of those seasons were worth more than 20 runs above average, however. Mark Grace and Tony Gwynn both breached 25 wRAA in the 90's. Greg Jeffries, wasn't so fortunate. 


Incidentally, the 3 best batting-seasons with a strikeout rate under 5% in the liveball era, are 3 Hall of Famers. Gehrig, Musial, Sisler all produced at least 85 wRAA.



Hey Pedro, try dealing with that, hot shot.