Too Many Strikeouts - See 1959 Topps Card

[sgbernard]

That's why I was a Tony Gwynn fan growing up, still am. He normally kept it to under 25 SO a year.

The constant use of the shift really punishes contact hitters these days. I wonder if MLB could consider limiting how far players can range out of position to cut down on that. This is a really recent change even from three or four years ago, I remember Albert Pujols, whose numbers have just dropped off a cliff the last few years, but who used to be a solid low .300s hitter, lamenting how hard it is to get a groundball out of the infield what with the way managers use the shift these days. If you don't have a chance of slapping a ball for a hit, your better statistical option becomes to swing for the fences or strike out.