Sponsors. Just for reference, there are 27 post-1947 1B who had at least 40 fWAR through age 32 (which is the early career production Guerriel would have needed to reach 50 career WAR). CARSON -- Centerfielder Eric Smelko enjoyed a 5-for-5 performance at the plate with five runs scored and three RBI as Cal State Dominguez Hills' offense exploded Presumably, Solano took the roster spot and the salary that might have otherwise gone to Gurriel. Sabermetrics Library One of the top arms in the 2022 draft class, look for Osmond to make a leap next season. Lee is the best pure hitter in the KBO, with a career batting average of .342 and more career walks than strikeouts. The current criteria dont value that though. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Current Through End of 2023 Regular Season. Batting Average Allowed Justin Verlander. In seven years with the Houston Astros, he won a Gold Glove, four American League pennants, and two World Series championships. WebThe following chart is a comprehensive breakdown of both leagues showing who led in strikeouts from 1876 through last season, with all recorded seasons being shown. Durham Bulls (Rays AAA) 86-44, .662 4. Has 31.9rWAR in 9 years, starting at age 27. All that progress went out the window in 2022. Its the Roy Campanella/Monte Irvin argument. All rights reserved. Abreu is 39th in post-1947 1B in fWAR between ages 27-35 behind guys like Youkilis and Adrian Gonzalez. Abreu also doesnt really stack up even just comparing him to other players after age 27. Expect him to be replaced with a defensive replacement or pinch runner in the WBC. And I no more summarily dismissed his case than youve summarily endorsed it. But we're still waiting for the workaholic right-hander in the Yankees pinstripes to have his first genuinely dominant season. So how did Gurriel get to this point? Perkins doesnt have the track record of many of the pitchers on this list, as hes started just four games in his career, but hell have a chance to shine as a member of the Louisville weekend rotation in 2021. For comparison, the league average was 131. & thats without doing something subjective like assuming his peak was ages 21-26. Baseball-Reference.com He took a lot of criticism for how he reacted to Koreas disappointing fourth- place finish in the Tokyo Olympics, though he did hit .308 with a double and 4 RBI over the tournament. Baseball San Diego Stats Baseball vs San Diego March 10, 2023 6:30 p.m. Shippensburg (9-4) notched 12 hits across two games while the Raider pitching staff totaled 16 strikeouts and just three walks. No. 9 ECU Hosts 20th Annual Keith LeClair Classic The only way Abreus case even comes close to approaching McGriffs is if you really give him a ton of credit for what he did in Cuba, where he spent most of his ABs against non-MLB quality pitchers. This past winter, Rodon decided to forego the final year of his deal with the San Francisco Giants. His walk rate fell in response. Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports. Semien TOR. Yet since moving stateside, Gurriel has worn just one uniform, and it still seems strange to think of him wearing any colors other than blue, orange, and white. Gurriel really did have a 20 wRC+ on fly balls last season. Defensively Lee has played exclusively in center field the last two seasons, and will likely line up in center for Team Korea. 2022 MLB Stat Leaders | ESPN In the South Florida Collegiate League, he struck out 42 in 28 innings and featured a fastball up to 98 mph. Alongside Hyun-soo Kim, who fans likely remember from his time in Baltimore, Byung-ho Park is the other position player with MLB experience. Baseball ZIPS also is far less generous in its translations than Davenport is. Stony Brook 4 Troy 9 Baseball vs Stony Brook February 24, 2023 2 p.m. Yet as he enters his age-39 season, theres a reason teams have been hesitant to offer him a guaranteed role. Batting 2B:SAFFORD, Will 1 HR:DROST, Brody 1 RBI:DROST, Brody 3; DAVIS, Dalton 1; SAFFORD, Will 2 BASERUNNING: RUNS:DROST, Brody 1; CORONA, Jorge 1; MYERS, Adarius 1; SAFFORD, Will 1; MCLEOD, Logan 2 HBP:CORONA, Jorge 1 Ole Miss BATTING: 2B:Lege, Ethan1 3B:Groff, Ethan1 RBI:Groff, Ethan2; Harris, Calvin1; Calarco, Anthony1; Camels take series over Louisiana. Osmond had an up-and-down abbreviated first season in Stillwater, but he has a couple of things going for him headed into next season. The fact is he came to the US and performed as a thoroughly average player, with stints of being above and well below average in between. Correa HOU. This Shohei Ohtani pitch from last season left his hand at 100.5 MPH and had a couple of inches of cut! MLB 2021 league leaders LOS ANGELES Sophomore second baseman Duce Gourson went 3-4 with a homer and a pair of RBIs to lead No. However, it pales in comparison to the 10%+ rise in strikeouts per plate appearance since 1920. The Twins, another club linked to the first baseman this offseason, recently came to terms with Donovan Solano. He is a natural athlete, but doesnt have the elite instincts needed to play a high-end center field and profiles better in a corner spot long-term. Walter Johnson set the Major League record for most consecutive seasons (1912 through 1919) leading any league in strikeouts, but Randy Johnson deserves a plug for stringing four consecutive seasons in the American League (1992 through 1995) then four more in the National League (1999 through 2002) four years after he did it in the junior circuit. As in, the dictionary meaning, where I wouldnt believe it if I hadnt seen how awesome hes become. Na also dealt with a gruesome injury in 2019, and his mobility has suffered since returning. The bats came alive and the pitching was stout on another clear and sunny day in the Kansas City area, as the Northwestern College baseball team (2-6, 0-0 GPAC) swept the day to conclude the 2023 Rube Foster Classic with two wins over Kansas Christian and Park (Mo.). Through the power of anonymous downvoting and ad hom meltdowns, you truly stand tall against the myriad bullies who disagree with your pre-existing assumptions, and then provide the datapoints resulting in that disagreement. We will see who dominates this season when the MLB campaign kicks off. All Rights Reserved by Baseball Almanac, Inc.Hosted by Hosting 4 Less. 2021 Minor League Baseball Stat Leaders, Champions & More WebGrover Cleveland Alexander led the National League in strikeouts six times in nine seasons. From #16-26 is, McGriff, McCovey, Votto, Julio Franco, Banks, Guerriel, Al Oliver, Giambi, Felipe Alou, Helton, and Konerko. Do some soul searching on why you continue to be so insufferable? He rarely makes poor swing decisions (23.1% by Retrosheet. If Wright managed to continue this trend through the end of the season it would be the first time in his career he achieved such a feat. Park is a speedster who covers a lot of ground and can steal bases, though he has cut back on his stolen bases a little as he entered his thirties. Baseball Just off the pace was Louisvilles Reid Detmers, who was drafted 10th overall by the Angels. Just look at the list of names who've led their league in strikeouts in recent seasons: Jacob deGrom, Shane Bieber, Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Chris Baseball UT Arlington Stats Baseball vs UT Arlington March 7, 2023 6 p.m. Fri, Mar 10 6:30 p.m. You can follow him on Twitter @morgenstenmlb. Everything about Rockers track record suggests that he Predicting the 2021 MLB strikeout leaders - MLB.com "I'm not worried about them (the strikeouts). His peak would have had to have been one of the best of all time to get him to even 50 WAR. Then, in 2021, Gurriel made a notable effort to improve his plate discipline without sacrificing contact. Tats SDP. Some of the tweets read as follows: Cole has had some fantastic seasons in the past, coming in second place in the voting for the AL Cy Young Award twice and leading MLB in strikeouts both times. I wish there were a member benefit that let you ignore morons like you. Kang also dealt with some adversity in the KBO for the first time last year. How about pitchers from you favorite team have they ever led the league in strikeouts? Fair enough, I was just thinking about it in terms of his total WAR over the period relative to the historical comps. Primarily a second baseman with Kiwoom, he was the double play partner of Ha-seong Kim before he joined the Padres. In other words, he was making more contact on less hittable pitches. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted College baseball is especially strong on the mound this year, including CWS heroes like Vanderbilts Kumar Rocker and Oregon States Kevin Abel, established veterans with high-octane stuff like Ohio States Seth Lonsway and Wake Forests Ryan Cusick and precocious arms still looking to show everyone exactly what theyre capable of like Louisiana States Jaden Hill and Vanderbilts Jack Leiter. Across the diamond at third base will be another KBO veteran, and one of the most accomplished KBO hitters in history, in Jeong Choi. Thrust into the rotation right away as a freshman, he responded by striking out 35 in 21 innings. Alongside, Park will likely line up at first base for Team Korea, with fellow KT Wiz teammate, Across the diamond at third base will be another KBO veteran, and one of the most accomplished KBO hitters in history, in, Team Korea will also rely on a veteran behind the plate, with 14-year veteran catcher, Since we started awarding the KBO Fielding Bible Awards in 2020, the center field award has been won by either, KBO (Alumnus) Scouting Report: Aaron Brooks. MLB Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2023 4:51 PM ET, Park Factors WebExplore Atlanta Braves stats and team leaders on FOXSports.com, including home runs, rbi, strikeouts and more. At this point, its unlikely Gurriel will find a team willing to offer him regular at-bats, and he may have to settle for a minor league deal. Ultimately we will never know the answer, but it is fun to speculate. That said, a high strikeout rate is sustainable for a pitcher with Lonsways stuff, which includes a fastball that reaches the mid 90s and three secondary offerings. Everything about Rockers track record suggests that he could top this list in 2021. Burnett (2008) and Roger Clemens (1997 and 98), Black struck out 29 batters in 22 innings in 2020, but if what he did over the summer is any indication, hell pile up many more in 2021. Team Korea has built a well-balanced roster for the WBC, with some young stars, veteran leaders and quality supporting players. This list is about half HOFers and the stretch around Gurriel illustrates that he likely would have been a guy who is at least in the conversation. By either standard, Abreus FG page doesnt give him credit for a five-year run where he averaged the equivalent of ~1.000 OPS, solely because he was born in the wrong placenot to mention the year he missed for the same reason. .200-.250 OPS seems like the gap between the CNS and the MLB (Rusney Castillo is at .202, Gurriel is at .248). Leo is a writer for FanGraphs and an editor for Just Baseball. Erla has been a durable arm for Michigan State for several years now, but he appeared to take a massive step forward in 2020, when he struck out 42 in 26 innings on the way to putting up a 1.04 ERA. Strikeouts/9 Innings Carlos Rodn. Some high school data is courtesy David McWater. WebWalter Johnson set the Major League record for most consecutive seasons (1912 through 1919) leading any league in strikeouts, but Randy Johnson deserves a plug for stringing four consecutive seasons in the American League (1992 through 1995) then four more in the National League (1999 through 2002) four years after he did it in the junior circuit. (Taking bets now: do we expect an anonymous downvote, or a shrill ad hominem?). Baseball Early returns are good, as he struck out 26 in 19.1 innings as a freshman in 2020. As most of Pirate Nation is aware, the baseball program has been greatly affected by ALS as former head coach and ECU Hall of Fame member Keith LeClair was diagnosed with the For what its worth, Freeman wasnt really a late bloomer, he was posting a 150 wRC+ at age 23 and has been a pretty consistent player since then. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. He likely would have battled Hye-seong Kim for a starting role on Team Korea had Tommy Edman not joined the team for the WBC. To be fair, he didnt get his MLB chance until long after his peak seasons. Maybe so, but hes been remarkably consistent after a clear peak as a rookie at 27. He did benefit a bit from the sharp decline in strikeout rates that started in 1969, but even still amassing 18 such seasons is an impressive feat. McCullers stepped into the role of staff ace for Houston in 2021, going 13-5 with a 3.16 ERA, 1.22 WHIP and 185 strikeouts over a career-high 162.1 innings. Both players are on Team Korea for the WBC, and could either start in center field (moving Jung-hoo Lee to a corner) or more likely come off the bench to upgrade the corner outfield defense in the late innings. and play-by-play data provided by Sports Info Solutions. ), because youre obviously incapable of anything else. 12 UCLA past Sacramento State, 3-2, on Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium as part of the 2023 Southern California College Baseball Classic. . 2023 MLB Player Hitting Stats | MLB.com We break down the top 25 candidates. If it was the league adjusting to him, then if he had been in the big leagues at 21, he presumably would have had that monster first season then spent the rest of his career as basically the guy weve seen (who to be clear is still a great player and likely would have been a borderline HOFer). , though he did hit .308 with a double and 4 RBI over the tournament. Lee ranked fourth in the KBO last season with an average exit velocity of 89 MPH according to our Synthetic Statcast model (SIS replicates Statcast data for non-MLB leagues), and he also finished in the top 10 in hard-hit rate (38%) and expected BABIP (.388). I dont know how you do it, haha lol. Counting them is much harder and requires more guesswork, of course. Which pitch should we highlight next. This isnt entirely new. He swings more than the average hitter at pitches outside the zone and less than the average hitter at pitches inside the zone. It wouldnt be surprising if at least a few of the current six players didnt manage to hold on through the end of this season. Did you know that eight of the top ten single season strikeout records all occurred during the nineteen century? Or write about sports? Minnesotas Max Meyer and Texas A&Ms Asa Lacy both finished in the top five in the nation in strikeouts and then were also selected in the top five picks. His swing currently produces a lot of line drives, which limits his ability to drive balls out of the park, though the raw power he has suggests he could sacrifice some batting average for more power with mechanical changes. Again, to say theres no case at all or suggest that Abreu putting up 20 WAR through age 26 is ludicrous doesnt sit right with me. Hoglund came into college baseball with a reputation as an elite strike thrower, but after an up-and-down freshman season, he really came into his own in terms of missing bats last season, when he struck out 37 in 23.1 innings. That would conceivably increase his counting stats to probably 400-450+ HR, 1500+ RBI, 2500+ hits, etc. Rodon trails only two pitchers who haven't yet appeared on this list in terms of WAR among all pitchers. Most position players in the league are rated below MLB average by DRS, and some drastically so. But in the U.S., even if you dont penalize him at all (and its not so much penalizing him as it is rewarding players who played in MLB prior to age 27), he doesnt look like a hall of famer. Even if his ROS performance was equivalent to 2021, the extra 1.5 WAR pushes him 6 spots up the list. Ichiro. Story Links. He is only 7 hits away from reaching 2,000 career KBO hits, and is 38 home runs behind Seung-yeop Lee in all-time KBO home runs. 1. He only has 1 season over 5 fWAR and unlike Gurriel he played his traditional peak years in MLB. I agree that theres no HoF case here, but I think there may well have been had he played in MLB from an early age (with access to the requisite training etc. Strikeouts/Walks Aaron Nola. Carson Montgomery, RHP, Florida State. Perhaps he should have taken the guaranteed cash when it was still on the table. Given theprevalenceof such hitters in previous eras, the leader board for this metric is a little skewed. If it is just that he got to the states just as his peak was ending, then we are talking about a likely 1st ballot kind of guy. Shane Lewis Does it All in the Trojans 10th Straight Win As most of Pirate Nation is aware, the baseball program has been greatly affected by ALS as former head coach and ECU Hall of Fame member Keith LeClair was diagnosed with the All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. This proved to be a wise business move, as the New York Yankees later signed him to a six-year, $162 million contract. HR. The result has always been a high contact rate but an equally low walk rate. Its not too late to win your mothers love. HR. I clicked on this because I was wondering what on earth Gurriel could do that would stimulate this much conversation, and it turns out my skepticism is well founded. They'll happen.