The Historic Strikeout Issues Of Javier Baez
Javier Baez was the No. 5 prospect in baseball coming into the 2014 season, and upon his call up in early August he promptly showed he … had some strikeout issues.
Baez struck out 95 times in just 229 plate appearances. In other words, Baez struck out 41.5 percent of the time he stepped to the plate.
Here is the full list of players in baseball history who struck out in at least 40 percent of their plate appearances in a season (minimum 225 plate appearances):
| Rk | Player | SO | PA | Year | Age | Tm | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | HBP | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Javier Baez | 95 | 229 | 2014 | 21 | CHC | 213 | 25 | 36 | 9 | 20 | 15 | 1 | .169 | .227 | .324 | .551 | *64 |
Lengthy list.
If we expand it to the players who had a strikeout rate of at least 35 percent (minimum 225 PAs), the list gets a bit longer:
| Rk | Player | SO | PA | Year | Age | Tm | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | BB | HBP | Pos | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Carter | 212 | 585 | 2013 | 26 | HOU | 506 | 64 | 113 | 29 | 82 | 70 | 4 | .223 | .320 | .451 | .770 | 37D/H9 |
| 2 | Mark Reynolds | 211 | 596 | 2010 | 26 | ARI | 499 | 79 | 99 | 32 | 85 | 83 | 9 | .198 | .320 | .433 | .753 | *5/3H |
| 3 | Adam Dunn | 177 | 496 | 2011 | 31 | CHW | 415 | 36 | 66 | 11 | 42 | 75 | 4 | .159 | .292 | .277 | .569 | *D3/H9 |
| 4 | Tyler Flowers | 159 | 442 | 2014 | 28 | CHW | 407 | 42 | 98 | 15 | 50 | 25 | 8 | .241 | .297 | .396 | .693 | *2/H |
| 5 | Bo Jackson | 158 | 434 | 1987 | 24 | KCR | 396 | 46 | 93 | 22 | 53 | 30 | 5 | .235 | .296 | .455 | .750 | *78/H9D |
| 6 | Melvin Nieves | 157 | 405 | 1997 | 25 | DET | 359 | 46 | 82 | 20 | 64 | 39 | 5 | .228 | .311 | .451 | .762 | *9HD/8 |
| 7 | Chris Davis | 150 | 419 | 2009 | 23 | TEX | 391 | 48 | 93 | 21 | 59 | 24 | 2 | .238 | .284 | .442 | .726 | *35/DH |
| 8 | Juan Francisco | 138 | 385 | 2013 | 26 | TOT | 348 | 36 | 79 | 18 | 48 | 32 | 3 | .227 | .296 | .422 | .719 | *35H/D |
| 9 | Jon Singleton | 134 | 362 | 2014 | 22 | HOU | 310 | 42 | 52 | 13 | 44 | 50 | 1 | .168 | .285 | .335 | .620 | *3/H |
| 10 | Russell Branyan | 132 | 361 | 2001 | 25 | CLE | 315 | 48 | 73 | 20 | 54 | 38 | 3 | .232 | .316 | .486 | .802 | *57H/D9 |
| 11 | Dave Nicholson | 126 | 351 | 1964 | 24 | CHW | 294 | 40 | 60 | 13 | 39 | 52 | 3 | .204 | .329 | .364 | .693 | *7/H9 |
| 12 | Juan Francisco | 116 | 320 | 2014 | 27 | TOR | 287 | 40 | 63 | 16 | 43 | 27 | 3 | .220 | .291 | .456 | .747 | *53HD |
| 13 | Brett Wallace | 104 | 285 | 2013 | 26 | HOU | 262 | 35 | 58 | 13 | 36 | 18 | 5 | .221 | .284 | .431 | .716 | *3/5HD |
| 14 | Mike Olt | 100 | 258 | 2014 | 25 | CHC | 225 | 23 | 36 | 12 | 33 | 25 | 3 | .160 | .248 | .356 | .604 | *5H3/D |
| 15 | Javier Baez | 95 | 229 | 2014 | 21 | CHC | 213 | 25 | 36 | 9 | 20 | 15 | 1 | .169 | .227 | .324 | .551 | *64 |
| 16 | Kelly Shoppach | 89 | 245 | 2012 | 32 | TOT | 219 | 23 | 51 | 8 | 27 | 16 | 8 | .233 | .309 | .425 | .733 | *2/HD |
| 17 | Billy Ashley | 88 | 244 | 1995 | 24 | LAD | 215 | 17 | 51 | 8 | 27 | 25 | 2 | .237 | .320 | .372 | .692 | *7H |
Fear not, Cubs fans. There are some viable major league players on this list. Adam Dunn. Chris Davis.
And how about the 2014 Cubs? This has happened 17 times in Major League history – and two of their players did in the same season (Baez and Mike Olt), just as two 2013 Astros (Brett Wallace and Chris Carter) managed to do it.
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Your opinion offers little when you simple pick out a players stats and them compare them to a list of others. Anyone can do that and unfortunately way to many sites are doing that already. Why don’t you try taking the time to find out what Javy Baez and the Cubs are doing to cut down those strike outs. You talk as if it can’t be done, at a player is doomed to whatever he is in his first year. Did you know Javy does very poorly whenever he is promoted to a higher level? Check his stats, you’ll see it’s fact. He does poorly for a period of time, then adjusts and takes off. Last year he was promoted twice. AAA was a huge adjustment for him, and quite a challenge, but he managed it. He started out in the Major Leagues the very same way, lots of strike outs. AAA took him quite a while so it’s only natural to assume that the ML’s would take even longer. It’s all in the stats. With a bit of research you can easily learn when Javy and the Cubs are doing to help his adjustment. It would make for a far better read.
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You’re quite right about how Javy has adjusted (we read Bleacher Nation and other sites that have covered that thoroughly every step of the way).
But …
While I was aware he had a historically bad strikeout rate, I wasn’t quite sure how bad until we looked at it this way. And I certainly didn’t know that the 2014 Cubs had two players do something (bad) that had only happened 17 times in MLB history.
Just found it interesting. That’s all.
And I certainly don’t believe that he can’t figure it out. But the early numbers are certainly concerning.
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Wow, Dave Nicholson was ahead of his time.
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