One modern day philosophy I will never adhere to is the idea that striking out is no worse than any other way of making an out. It had to be a metrics analyst who never played the game to come up with that one! Nor did he watch the Arizona Diamondbacks upset the Phillies in the 2023 Playoffs. First off, when someone upsets you 4 games out of 7 it can’t be considered an upset. The Diamondbacks don’t even have strikeout pitchers but then again the Phillies don’t have a two strike approach. Arizona won all 4 close games by striking out Phils hitters with men in scoring position and less than two outs where all they needed was a groundball or a fly ball and the Phils would have won all 4 games. To make matters worse the Phillies made no noticeable adjustments for 2024 and lost again!
Here are a few facts that point to the importance of working on a two strike approach every day:
- The batting average in MLB on a ball put in play with two strikes is .321.
- The biggest difference between Hall of Famers and regular MLB players is often their success with two strikes.
Photograph of the Legendary ted Williams in 1950 by Diamond Images / Getty
- Ted Williams took the Senators from the worst hitting team in baseball to the best by simply working on each hitter developing a two strike approach.
- Some MLB teams cannot field very well but because other teams cannot put the ball in play they advance further in the playoffs because their pitchers strike out so many opposing hitters.
- When a player hits a HR it’s over when he crosses home plate. When a team consistently puts the ball in play, steals bases, takes the walks, moves runners, etc. it keeps constant pressure on the pitcher. These guys cannot throw strikes as it is, but there is no pressure on the pitcher or fielders in HR Derby.
- Some of the greatest HR hitters of all time choked up with two strikes (or employed another two strike approach) and hit as many or more HRs with two strikes as they did with none or one.
- If a hitter is not afraid to strike out he is less likely to chase pitches out of his happy zone with 0 or 1 strike counts. Confidence in a two strike approach makes a hitter more selective and therefore better on all counts.
- There is such a thing as a productive out which is much better than a strike. Moving a runner from 2B to 3B is a productive out. A groundball to the right side or a sacrifice fly to the outfield is a productive out. Hitting with two strikes is a learned ability that should be worked on every day. Ted Williams used to pay a BP pitcher if he could strike him out when he went into his two strike approach. Anything close, we are putting it into play. That means we swing at basically everything we can reach that doesn’t bounce or go over our shoulders! We take the umpire completely out of the game. If I can reach it, I can hit it.
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