Hit The Ball!
Baseball ain’t what it used to be. How many times have you heard this complaint by someone who is aggravated by the current state of the game? Baseball is forever evolving, this makes the game better over time. Not every change is good, but baseball is better today than it was in the 1890’s.
Not every player is Hall of Famer Wee Willie Keller. In 1899 he set an unbreakable record. In 570 At Bats, Keller struck out twice. It is not unusual for players to strike out twice in a single game. Keller’s 285 At Bats per Strikeout will never be approached. In 1995, Tony Gwynn was the last player to enter the top 500, striking out once every 35.67 At Bats. Gwynn was an outlier in today’s baseball. The focus has shifted from putting the ball in play to hitting for power. The decline of the batter refusing to strikeout is accelerating. 2005 was the last time a player went a full Major League season averaging more than 20 At Bats per Strikeout.
Placido Polanco is not a Hall of Famer. He was a slightly below average hitter, 95 OPS+, during his 16 season career. His glove was more valuable than his bat. However, in 2005 Polanco had one of the best seasons of his career. Despite a midseason trade from the Phillies to the Tigers, Polanco played in 129 Games, made 551 Plate Appearances, 501 At Bats, collected 166 Hits, 33 Walks, 25 Strikeouts, with a .331 BA, .383 OBP, .447 SLG, .830 OPS, and 120 OPS+. He put the ball in play. Polanco had a .333 BABIP, 4.5 SO%, 6.0 BB%, and sprayed the baseball to all fields; 26.1 Pull %, 53.9 Center %, and 19.9 Oppo %. Polanco posted a 20.04 AB/SO, well ahead of second place Jason Kendall’s 15.4 AB/SO and light years ahead of the league average 5.4 AB/SO.
Polanco hit against both leagues after Philadelphia traded him to Detroit on June 8, 2005 for Ramon Martinez and Ugueth Urbina. He played 59 games for the Phillies and 70 for the Tigers. Polanco struckout in only 20 games, 15.5% of games played. He struck out once in 15 games and twice in five. He struck out in back to back games three times. Polanco went 12 games between strikeouts five times. His longest streak without a strikeout was 19 games and 70 At Bats. He played in 109 games without a strikeout.
About those two strikeout games, Polanco struckout in back to back At Bats in four of his five two strikeout games. He whiffed twice on May 20th and 21st vs the Orioles. After joining the Tigers he struck out twice against CC Sabathia on August 5th vs the Indians and against Cliff Lee on August 31st vs Indians. Baltimore and Cleveland were the only teams that could fool Polanco.
Polanco’s season was not the result of manipulation. He qualified for the batting title. Polanco finished second, .004 behind Derrek Lee for the best Batting Average in baseball. A player must have 3.1 Plate Appearances per game for 162 games to qualify for the batting title. Polanco needed 502 Plate Appearances to qualify, he had 551. He did not lead either league in a statistical category, nor was he an All Star. The Phillies finished second in the National League East without Polanco and the Tigers finished fourth in the American League Central with him. A great season was easily overlooked.
How impressive was Polanco’s 2005 season? Only Tommy La Stella’s 16.33 AB/SO in the 2020 Covid shortened season has topped 15.00 in the last decade. La Stella was an outlier in 2020, as DJ LeMahieu was second with 9.29 AB/SO. The balance of power shifted to the pitchers after the Steroid Era. Domination on the mound has made multiple strikeout games common. The rule changes MLB put in place for the 2023 season aims to reduce some of the pitching dominance. Time will tell if Placido Polanco is the last Major Leaguer to have a 20.00 AB/SO in a season.
DJ
The Winning Run 