Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth
Mantle never struck out more than 120 or so times. Trout already has a 180 under his belt. That's Adam Dunn territory. Along with two 130s. And 116 this year with a month plus to go. Of course he could nevertheless be an all time great, just pointing out a note of caution. And the falloff in stolen bases from his rookie year -- when of course he was considered one of those rare marvels combining power and speed -- has been quite dramatic. 49 33 16 10.
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I SO/year have increased over the years. We know Ruth as a great home run hitter, but when he played he was known as the King of Strike Outs. Yet his strike out totals were nothing compared to today's players (Ruth never had more than 100 in a season). Then Mantle came along and there were similar talks about his strike outs. Yet, even though he also lead the league, his strikeouts are minimal to today. My point is that just because he leads the league in SO doesn't really matter, when you look at the full scope of his stats. He led the SO the same year he led in Runs, RBI, and Total Bases... Dunn only led in SO and eventually walks.
SO/AB totals for the people mentioned thus far:
Dunn 35%
Trout 26%
Mantle 21%
Ruth 16%
So the fact is Trout is still closer to Mantle than to Dunn.
I do agree that there is a word of caution and it is too early to say he is a great, but I just think looking at SO only can cause you to miss the bigger picture just as some did with Ruth and Mantle when they played because they focused on SO with their all or nothing swings.