Relationships among Home Runs, Strike Outs, Walks.

Yankee "prospect" Gleybar Torres was recently named MVP of the Arizona Fall League (AFL). However, if you check his minor league stats, which top out at A+ ball, you will not find the AFL because it's not really a league. Torres had OPS 1.158 with 3 home runs (HR) and 8 strike outs (SO). See:

http://mlb.mlb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=l119&lid=119&t=l_bat

Torres also had 14 walks, bases on balls (BB). 14 BB is good. Or it's a reflection of the AFL pitching.

Only 8 SO for 3 HR is good. If Torres hit 30 HR, he'd have only 80 SO. The Yankees would sign up for that right now, even if he did not also have 140 BB.

Unfortunately, the minor league numbers of Gleyber Torres do not suggest such optimism. In 2016 at A+ ball, playing first for the Cubs team, then the Yankees after Torres was traded for Aroldis Chapman in late July. Torres had 11 HR, 110 SO. Oh, OPS .775.

That's a ratio of 11 to 1. If Torres managed 22 HR and 220 SO, I don't think the Yankees would sign up for that. Torres had 58 BB. His numbers came in 547 plate appearances (PA), including 478 at bats (AB). In other words, Torres played pretty much a full season so doubling his HR and SO numbers is misleading. The 11 HR suggest that Torres is not much of a power hitter, at least not yet.

But the relationship raises questions. That's still a lot of SO per HR and Torres had about two SO per BB.

Here are the nine seasons in which a player had at least 200 SO:

Rk	Player	SO	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	IBB	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Mark Reynolds	223	2009	25	ARI	NL	155	662	578	98	150	30	1	44	102	76	3	5	0	3	8	24	9	.260	.349	.543	.892	*53/H
2	Adam Dunn	222	2012	32	CHW	AL	151	649	539	87	110	19	0	41	96	105	3	1	0	4	8	2	1	.204	.333	.468	.800	*D3/7H
3	Chris Davis	219	2016	30	BAL	AL	157	665	566	99	125	21	0	38	84	88	3	8	0	3	6	1	0	.221	.332	.459	.792	*3/9D
4	Chris Carter	212	2013	26	HOU	AL	148	585	506	64	113	24	2	29	82	70	1	4	0	5	8	2	0	.223	.320	.451	.770	37D/H9
5	Mark Reynolds	211	2010	26	ARI	NL	145	596	499	79	99	17	2	32	85	83	7	9	0	5	8	7	4	.198	.320	.433	.753	*5/3H
6	Chris Davis	208	2015	29	BAL	AL	160	670	573	100	150	31	0	47	117	84	6	8	0	5	6	2	3	.262	.361	.562	.923	*39D
7	Chris Carter	206	2016	29	MIL	NL	160	644	549	84	122	27	1	41	94	76	1	9	0	10	18	3	1	.222	.321	.499	.821	*3/HD
8	Drew Stubbs	205	2011	26	CIN	NL	158	681	604	92	147	22	3	15	44	63	1	7	6	1	2	40	10	.243	.321	.364	.686	*8/H
9	Mark Reynolds	204	2008	24	ARI	NL	152	613	539	87	129	28	3	28	97	64	0	3	1	6	10	11	2	.239	.320	.458	.779	*5/H3

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/21/2016.

Five players. Four individuals hit at least 40 HR with at least 200 SO. That's about 4 SO per HR. I'm guessing that most teams would find that acceptable if the player hit at least 40 HR. Plus, the OPS of those four seasons ranged from .800 to .923.

Adam Dunn had the one of the nine seasons with at least 100 BB, although his OPS was only .800. Amazingly only two of nine resulted in at least 100 RBI. Yikes.

Here are 11 seasons of at least 150 BB:

Rk	Player	BB	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Barry Bonds	232	2004	39	SFG	NL	147	617	373	129	135	27	3	45	101	120	41	9	0	3	5	6	1	.362	.609	.812	1.422	*7/HD
2	Barry Bonds	198	2002	37	SFG	NL	143	612	403	117	149	31	2	46	110	68	47	9	0	2	4	9	2	.370	.582	.799	1.381	*7/DH
3	Barry Bonds	177	2001	36	SFG	NL	153	664	476	129	156	32	2	73	137	35	93	9	0	2	5	13	3	.328	.515	.863	1.379	*7/DH
4	Babe Ruth	170	1923	28	NYY	AL	152	697	522	151	205	45	13	41	130		93	4	3			17	21	.393	.545	.764	1.309	97/83
5	Mark McGwire	162	1998	34	STL	NL	155	681	509	130	152	21	0	70	147	28	155	6	0	4	8	1	0	.299	.470	.752	1.222	*3/H
6	Ted Williams	162	1949	30	BOS	AL	155	730	566	150	194	39	3	43	159		48	2	0		22	1	1	.343	.490	.650	1.141	*7
7	Ted Williams	162	1947	28	BOS	AL	156	692	528	125	181	40	9	32	114		47	2	1		10	0	1	.343	.499	.634	1.133	*7
8	Ted Williams	156	1946	27	BOS	AL	150	672	514	142	176	37	8	38	123		44	2	0		12	0	0	.342	.497	.667	1.164	*7
9	Barry Bonds	151	1996	31	SFG	NL	158	675	517	122	159	27	3	42	129	30	76	1	0	6	11	40	7	.308	.461	.615	1.076	*7/H8
10	Eddie Yost	151	1956	29	WSH	AL	152	684	515	94	119	17	2	11	53	9	82	8	9	1	8	8	5	.231	.412	.336	.748	*5/H9
11	Babe Ruth	150	1920	25	NYY	AL	142	616	458	158	172	36	9	54	135		80	3	5			14	14	.376	.532	.847	1.379	*978/3H1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/21/2016.

Five players again obviously skewed by managers being afraid of being fired for pitching to Bonds. Eddie Yost was known as the Walking Man. He was not a slugger and not a great hitter.

In six of the eleven seasons the batter led in HR. Only Yost had fewer than 100 RBI and a OPS well under 1.000: .748.

Only McGwire had more than 100 SO: 155; so he had about two SO per HR. That's about half the ratio of the 200 SO batters.

Bonds in 2004 had BB to SO of almost 6 to 1. Others were around 4-1, 3-1. The big boppers skew this.

Five players hit at least 60 HR:

Rk	Player	HR	Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	SH	SF	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	Pos
1	Barry Bonds	73	2001	36	SFG	NL	153	664	476	129	156	32	2	137	177	35	93	9	0	2	5	13	3	.328	.515	.863	1.379	*7/DH
2	Mark McGwire	70	1998	34	STL	NL	155	681	509	130	152	21	0	147	162	28	155	6	0	4	8	1	0	.299	.470	.752	1.222	*3/H
3	Sammy Sosa	66	1998	29	CHC	NL	159	722	643	134	198	20	0	158	73	14	171	1	0	5	20	18	9	.308	.377	.647	1.024	*9/8
4	Mark McGwire	65	1999	35	STL	NL	153	661	521	118	145	21	1	147	133	21	141	2	0	5	12	0	0	.278	.424	.697	1.120	*3/H
5	Sammy Sosa	64	2001	32	CHC	NL	160	711	577	146	189	34	5	160	116	37	153	6	0	12	6	0	2	.328	.437	.737	1.174	*9
6	Sammy Sosa	63	1999	30	CHC	NL	162	712	625	114	180	24	2	141	78	8	171	3	0	6	17	7	8	.288	.367	.635	1.002	*98
7	Roger Maris	61	1961	26	NYY	AL	161	698	590	132	159	16	4	141	94	0	67	7	0	7	16	0	0	.269	.372	.620	.993	*98/H
8	Babe Ruth	60	1927	32	NYY	AL	151	691	540	158	192	29	8	165	137		89	0	14			7	6	.356	.486	.772	1.258	*97

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 11/21/2016.

Only Maris, Ruth and Bonds had fewer than 100 SO, although Ruth led the league; Sosa led the league in SO in two of his three 60 HR seasons. Maris had almost a one to one ratio of HR to SO: 61 to 67.

Five of the eight seasons had at least 100 BB. The ratio between BB and SO varied a lot. McGwire was pretty even in his two seasons. Sosa had more than twice as many SO as BB in 2 of 3.

Even Sosa's worst SO to HR was only 2.7. That seems a lot more reasonable than the 4 to 1 of the 200 SO players.

Let's look at career numbers through 2015. Here are players with at least 500 HR sorted by HR:

First	Last	AB	HR	BB	SO	SO/HR	SO/BB	BB/HR
Barry	Bonds	9847	762	2558	1539	2.02	.60	3.36
Hank	Aaron	12364	755	1402	1383	1.83	.99	1.86
Babe	Ruth	8398	714	2062	1330	1.86	.65	2.89
Alex	Rodriguez	10341	687	1324	2220	3.23	1.68	1.93
Willie	Mays	10881	660	1464	1526	2.31	1.04	2.22
Ken	Griffey	9801	630	1312	1779	2.82	1.36	2.08
Jim	Thome	8422	612	1747	2548	4.16	1.46	2.85
Sammy	Sosa	8813	609	929	2306	3.79	2.48	1.53
Frank	Robinson	10006	586	1420	1532	2.61	1.08	2.42
Mark	McGwire	6187	583	1317	1596	2.74	1.21	2.26
Harmon	Killebrew	8147	573	1559	1699	2.97	1.09	2.72
Rafael	Palmeiro	10472	569	1353	1348	2.37	1.00	2.38
Reggie	Jackson	9864	563	1375	2597	4.61	1.89	2.44
Albert	Pujols	8545	560	1165	978	1.75	.84	2.08
Manny	Ramirez	8244	555	1329	1813	3.27	1.36	2.39
Mike	Schmidt	8352	548	1507	1883	3.44	1.25	2.75
Mickey	Mantle	8102	536	1733	1710	3.19	.99	3.23
Jimmie	Foxx	8134	534	1452	1311	2.46	.90	2.72
Willie	McCovey	8197	521	1345	1550	2.98	1.15	2.58
Ted	Williams	7706	521	2021	709	1.36	.35	3.88
Frank	Thomas	8199	521	1667	1397	2.68	.84	3.20
Eddie	Mathews	8537	512	1444	1487	2.90	1.03	2.82
Ernie	Banks	9421	512	763	1236	2.41	1.62	1.49
Mel	Ott	9456	511	1708	896	1.75	.52	3.34
Gary	Sheffield	9217	509	1475	1171	2.30	.79	2.90
Eddie	Murray	11336	504	1333	1516	3.01	1.14	2.64
David	Ortiz	8103	503	1239	1664	3.31	1.34	2.46

SO/HR:
high: Reggie Jackson 4.61
middle (14th lowest): Mark McGwire 2.74
low: Ted Williams 1.36

SO/BB:
high: Sammy Sosa 2.48, way more than second highest Jackson 1.89
middle (14th lowest): Frank Robinson 1.08; Mickey Mantle .99, almost dead even at 10th lowest
low: Ted Williams .35

BB/HR:
high: Ted Williams 3.38
middle (14th lowest): Willie McCovey 2.58
low: Ernie Banks 1.49

Finally, top and bottom five for the 1,028 batters 1903-2015 minimum 4,000 AB:

SO/HR:

playerID	First	Last	AB	HR	BB	SO	SO/HR	SO/BB	BB/HR	MinOfyearID	MaxOfyearID
dimagjo01	Joe	DiMaggio	6821	361	790	369	1.02	.47	2.19	1936	1951
berrayo01	Yogi	Berra	7555	358	704	414	1.16	.59	1.97	1946	1965
kluszte01	Ted	Kluszewski	5929	279	492	365	1.31	.74	1.76	1947	1961
willite01	Ted	Williams	7706	521	2021	709	1.36	.35	3.88	1939	1960
lombaer01	Ernie	Lombardi	5855	190	430	262	1.38	.61	2.26	1931	1947

playerID	First	Last	AB	HR	BB	SO	SO/HR	SO/BB	BB/HR	MinOfyearID	MaxOfyearID
bluelu01	Lu	Blue	5904	44	1092	436	9.91	.40	24.82	1921	1933
careyma01	Max	Carey	9363	70	1040	695	9.93	.67	14.86	1910	1929
severha01	Hank	Severeid	4312	17	331	169	9.94	.51	19.47	1911	1926
duganjo01	Joe	Dugan	5410	42	250	419	9.98	1.68	5.95	1917	1931
harrebu01	Bud	Harrelson	4744	7	633	653	93.29	1.03	90.43	1965	1980

SO/BB:

playerID	First	Last	AB	HR	BB	SO	SO/HR	SO/BB	BB/HR	MinOfyearID	MaxOfyearID
seweljo01	Joe	Sewell	7132	49	842	114	2.33	.14	17.18	1920	1933
speaktr01	Tris	Speaker	10195	117	1381	220	1.88	.16	11.80	1907	1928
devliar01	Art	Devlin	4412	10	576	105	10.50	.18	57.60	1904	1913
bridwal01	Al	Bridwell	4169	2	557	98	49.00	.18	278.50	1905	1915
titusjo01	John	Titus	4960	38	620	116	3.05	.19	16.32	1903	1913

playerID	First	Last	AB	HR	BB	SO	SO/HR	SO/BB	BB/HR	MinOfyearID	MaxOfyearID
jonesad01	Adam	Jones	4728	196	219	973	4.96	4.44	1.12	2006	2015
patteco01	Corey	Patterson	4171	118	206	933	7.91	4.53	1.75	2000	2011
duncama01	Mariano	Duncan	4677	87	201	913	10.49	4.54	2.31	1985	1997
armasto01	Tony	Armas	5164	251	260	1201	4.78	4.62	1.04	1976	1989
dunstsh01	Shawon	Dunston	5927	150	203	1000	6.67	4.93	1.35	1985	2002

BB/HR:

playerID	First	Last	AB	HR	BB	SO	SO/HR	SO/BB	BB/HR	MinOfyearID	MaxOfyearID
armasto01	Tony	Armas	5164	251	260	1201	4.78	4.62	1.04	1976	1989
gonzaju03	Juan	Gonzalez	6556	434	457	1273	2.93	2.79	1.05	1989	2005
jonesad01	Adam	Jones	4728	196	219	973	4.96	4.44	1.12	2006	2015
soriaal01	Alfonso	Soriano	7750	412	496	1803	4.38	3.64	1.20	1999	2014
willima04	Matt	Williams	7000	378	469	1363	3.61	2.91	1.24	1987	2003

playerID	First	Last	AB	HR	BB	SO	SO/HR	SO/BB	BB/HR	MinOfyearID	MaxOfyearID
galanau01	Augie	Galan	5937	100	979	393	3.93	.40	9.79	1934	1949
rosepe01	Pete	Rose	14053	160	1566	1143	7.14	.73	9.79	1963	1986
schulfr02	Fred	Schulte	4259	47	462	361	7.68	.78	9.83	1927	1937
kreevmi01	Mike	Kreevich	4676	45	446	339	7.53	.76	9.91	1931	1945
harrebu01	Bud	Harrelson	4744	7	633	653	93.29	1.03	90.43	1965	1980