Adam Dunn 2012 strikeout pace

[Rich the Giants fan]

Doesn't he strike out an extraordinary amount looking?

His career rate is 28%, although this year that rate is down to 18%.

[dominik]

Doesn't he strike out an extraordinary amount looking?

That's why he is drawing so many walks. even with two strikes he is not defending the plate but looking for a pitch he can hit (sitting on a location or pitch type). thus he looks at a lot of close pitches. Very often you see him getting to a full count after being 0-2. the normal 0-2 approach (set up with the letter high heater and then bouncing the curveball) usually gets you to 2-2 against him so you have to attack him.

but he is also swinging through a lot of pitches so you can easily strike him out if you attack him. but if you give him too much plate he will hit a bomb even with 2 strikes. so you have to be carefull as a pitcher attack him but not too much. If you make good pitches usually you get him out (unless he was sitting on this pitch) he is feasting on mistakes.

[dominik]

True, though impossible to know how many of "those" strikeouts would have turned into double plays if they'd made contact. Overall, however, I'd rather take my chances with a ball put in play.

Especially with Dunn running.

[chicagowhitesox1173]

It's kinda funny at least for this year because he is having a good year but whenever he strikesout it doesn't look like it bothers him too much. I saw him argue one called third strike this year and Steve Stone even commented "when the big guy argues a strike it's more than likely is a ball." I'm sure Reds or National fans know more about him than me but it seems like he's fine with striking out. He just walks back to the dugout and it looks like he always has a smirk on his face.

Man last year The Hawk would go 30 seconds without saying a word after Dunn broke up a Sox rally with a strikeout. This year The Hawk loves him.

[philliesfiend55]

Dunn's recent Injury May Have Derailed him from setting a new single season strikeout record. Although he's listed as day to day, he hasn't even pinch hit in about the last eight or nine days. Just before he got hurt, however, he did become just the sixth player in history to strikeout 2,000 times in MLB history. (Currently he has 2,003 Ks.)

[SHOELESSJOE3]

True, though impossible to know how many of "those" strikeouts would have turned into double plays if they'd made contact. Overall, however, I'd rather take my chances with a ball put in play.

Agreed, you can bring up the argument............may have been a DP instead of a strikeout, but there is no way to ever know what might have been.

Only one fact is known, strike out and no runners if on base advance or even score.
Runs have scored even on a ground out, never on a strike out...........unless we want to get cute and say the ball got past the catcher. I like contact overall, on average.

[ol' aches and pains]

Dunn's recent Injury May Have Derailed him from setting a new single season strikeout record. Although he's listed as day to day, he hasn't even pinch hit in about the last eight or nine days. Just before he got hurt, however, he did become just the sixth player in history to strikeout 2,000 times in MLB history. (Currently he has 2,003 Ks.)

Just as last season, they shut him down before he had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, otherwise he would have had the lowest batting average in the long history of MLB, encompassing over 17,000 players. Yet on another sub-forum here, people are still discussing his
Hall of Fame chances.

[Bothrops Atrox]

Just as last season, they shut him down before he had enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, otherwise he would have had the lowest batting average in the long history of MLB, encompassing over 17,000 players. Yet on another sub-forum here, people are still discussing his
Hall of Fame chances.

Dunn isn't a HOFer because his overall body of work is not nearly good enough - not because of one awful year. Bob Feller once had a near-full season with an RA/9 close to 6. (RA+ in the 60s) in what was arguably the worst season for a full-time starter in history (-3 WAR).

[Bothrops Atrox]

Strikeouts suck. They are completely unproductive. Fly ball and ground ball outs can at least move runners over. Making contact can result in errors by fielders. Putting the ball in play introduces more possiblities than do worthless strikeouts.

Thankfully, because of linear weights, we no longer have to speculate or guess as to what the average event is worth:

groundout: -.24 runs
flyout:-.28 runs
strikeout: -.31 runs

Striekouts are worse, but not by a significant margin.

[Tyrus4189Cobb]

Some guys simply get more outs by striking out. Doesn't mean they are less productive than the guy who grounds out more.

[ol' aches and pains]

Dunn isn't a HOFer because his overall body of work is not nearly good enough - not because of one awful year.

Well aware of that, thanks. My only point was he's now been saved from having two historically awful years in a row.

[rsuriyop]

How do you even begin to rate a guy like Dunn? There is no one in baseball who's stats are completely out of whack like his, especially his 2012 season:

39 HR's, but 195 SO's
A .213 BA, but 97 BB's

Would you consider the above stats to be all-star worthy? Hard to say. The closest hitting comp that I could think of to Dunn would probably be Mark Reynolds. But I think we can pretty much all agree that Dunn's stats are even more extreme. In the end I think it'll be interesting to see how SABR experts will evaluate Dunn's season.

[Dude Paskert]

How do you even begin to rate a guy like Dunn? There is no one in baseball who's stats are completely out of whack like his, especially his 2012 season:

39 HR's, but 195 SO's
A .213 BA, but 97 BB's

Would you consider the above stats to be all-star worthy? Hard to say. The closest hitting comp that I could think of to Dunn would probably be Mark Reynolds. But I think we can pretty much all agree that Dunn's stats are even more extreme. In the end I think it'll be interesting to see how SABR experts will evaluate Dunn's season.

Dunn's slugging percentage is decent and his OBP is OK...given that he DH's a lot and is brutal at 1B when playing there, I'd say he's not coming close to earning his salary. Reynolds was hitting a lot worse until his recent white hot streak, but at least the guy can play 1st OK and even 3rd in an emergency...at least he gives you a little flexibility.