Strike Out Article For Free

?The strikeout rate in baseball is on a hundred-plus-year trend upward, and it's a really difficult thing to deal with,? Sword says. ?And it just stems from the fact that pitching is so dominant these days, and the pitchers have become not only so talented, but clever about how to miss bats.?

Definition. A strikeout occurs when a pitcher throws any combination of three swinging or looking strikes to a hitter. (A foul ball counts as a strike, but it cannot be the third and final strike of the at-bat. A foul tip, which is caught by the catcher, is considered a third strike.)

When the strikeout became an official statistic, "K" in the word ?strikeout? was the first letter not already being used. As single was S, triple was T, run was R, inning was I and then strikeout was K by default. ?K? is one of the only symbols that used in today's score-keeping that was originated in the 19th century.

Nolan Ryan has the most career strikeouts in Major League Baseball. During a record 27-year career, he struck out 5,714 batters. The American League record is held by Roger Clemens (4,167 strikeouts), while in the National League, the record is 4,000 by Steve Carlton.

Last season, position players struck out more than twice as many times as they did in 1983, continuing a steady trend upwards. They struck out 40 percent more often than they did in 2003. They struck out 20 percent more than they did 10 years ago. That's a long march towards little contact.

Career Leaders & Records for Strikeouts RankPlayer (yrs, age)Strikeouts1.Nolan Ryan+ (27)57142.Randy Johnson+ (22)48753.Roger Clemens (24)46724.Steve Carlton+ (24)413672 more rows

For one, hitters are swinging at far more pitches outside the strike zone. They're also swinging at fewer pitches inside the strike zone. This combination of chasing and taking is helping pitchers pile up more strikes, and more strikes are invariably going to lead to more strikeouts.