Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Bats/Throws: Strike Out rate

Strike Out (SO) / at bats (AB).  Lower is better.  Shown as a percentage.

Definitions:
Both: switch hitters
RR: bats right, throws right
RL: bats right, throws left
LR: bats left, throws right
LL: bats left, throws left
BR: bats both, throws right
BL: bats both, throws left

For seasons 1903-2012 American and National Leagues:
             RR        RL       LR       LL      BR       BL
Min 5.44% 3.63% 4.58% 5.85% 6.11% 7.59%
Max 21.89% 41.96% 23.00% 22.67% 19.91% 44.62%
Ave 14.34% 22.58% 12.12% 13.60% 12.70% 20.35%

Recent seasons:

Year RR RL LR LL BR BL
2000 0.1898 0.2367 0.1899 0.1835 0.1752 0.2102
2001 0.1992 0.2734 0.1882 0.1869 0.1900 0.2266
2002 0.1911 0.3138 0.1942 0.1830 0.1803 0.2239
2003 0.1893 0.2895 0.1815 0.1806 0.1728 0.2158
2004 0.1932 0.3366 0.1923 0.1872 0.1771 0.1872
2005 0.1879 0.2367 0.1855 0.1857 0.1650 0.2033
2006 0.1906 0.2502 0.1967 0.1973 0.1639 0.2070
2007 0.1925 0.2412 0.2017 0.1960 0.1717 0.2058
2008 0.1969 0.2808 0.2061 0.2084 0.1679 0.2109
2009 0.2014 0.2490 0.2157 0.2106 0.1811 0.2011
2010 0.2049 0.2623 0.2179 0.2219 0.1832 0.2239
2011 0.2089 0.2754 0.2152 0.2111 0.1892 0.1990
2012 0.2189 0.3062 0.2300 0.2267 0.1991 0.2190

Wow.  Traditionally, the highest SO rate is for RL, although the most prominent such batter does not fit that description: Ricky Henderson.  Next worst is BL, the other group with few batters.  The lowest SO rate is for LR; Ted Williams does fit.

In recent seasons the three main groups (RR, LR, LL) are pretty even.

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