Much is made of the strikeout today, too much in our opinion. But since there is a great fascination with the K, we thought we would look at the strikeout in a way that you may not have considered before…we’ll take a look at the batters BIP average (Balls In Play).  

BIP measures what a players average would be if you simply subtracted K and then figured out his batting average (AB-K= new at bats total, which is then divided by hits). Let’s take Jim Thome as an example.

Jim Thome is batting .285 this year (372 AB with 106 hits) with 109 K.  

372 AB- 109 K= 263 AB
106 HITS/263 AB= .403

Therefore his BIP average is .403. Simple right? 

Of course the resulting BIP average does not have anything to do with the hitters overall average because we are only counting what the hitters average is in at bats where they actually hit the ball.  

In PART I we will detail the BIP leaders thus far in 2004. In PART II we will discuss all of the seasons in history when a batter had 150 K in a season. 

PART I 
K Leaders as of August 8^th, 2004 

This list is mostly populated by some HR hitting sluggers…but a few names jump out as not really fitting that mold: BYRNES, CLAYTON, OVERBAY, BLAKE and VARITEK.  

No matter what the reason, these guys sure strike out a lot. But this is not what we are interested in here, we are interested in BIP. In the table that follows we will list the BIP leaders in 2004 (as of August 8^th, 2004). 

AB H AVG K BIP AVG

*** If you wish to view the entire list of all 2004 hitters who currently have enough at bats to qualify for the batting title and their corresponding BIP totals, see:

http://wildpitch.blogspot.com/2004/08/bip-averages-ballsinplay.html 

Now its no surprise to see DUNN at the top of the list since he leads the league in K, but it is a bit surprising to see that he is 2^nd behind EDMONDS. In fact there are 10 players who have a BIP over .400, an all of those players would have to be considered fantasy all-stars this season (though MORA OVERBAY and HAFNER were left of the actual team MLB all star teams). These 10 men also have a chance at producing some historically high BIP totals, totals that would place them in the top 25 all-time if they were to reach the 150 K threshold that we will be discussing below.  

PART II 

Here are the All-Time BIP Leaders for those who had over 150 K in a season 

AB H K BIP

*** If you wish to view the entire list of all hitters who ever accumulated 150 K in a season and their BIP scores see: http://wildpitch.blogspot.com/2004/08/bip-averages-ballsinplay.html 

THOME has the highest single season BIP of all-time, being followed closely by JOSE “I think my eyelash is hurt so you had better sit me out so I don’t break the single season strikeout record” HERNANDEZ. Multiple offenders on this list include: SOSA 4, Thome 2, GALARRAGA 2, and VAUGHAN 2.  

For those of you who think that strikeouts are on the rise, the data supports you. Here is a breakdown by decade of 150 K seasons. 

1960-69 = 10
1970-79 = 12
1980-89 = 26 
1990-99 = 33
2000-03 = 29  

In fact, the oldest season where a batter accumulated 150 K is 1963 (Nicholson 175/ Lock 151 ) , over 60 years after the modern era began!  

A few more tables: 

Highest average for a 150 K season

 

Lowest average for a 150 K season

Most hits in a season with 150 K

Soriano (2002)- 209
Vaughan (1996)- 207
BobbyBonds (1970)- 200
Sosa (1998)- 198
Sosa (2000)- 193 

Fewest hits in a season with 150 K

Deer (1991)- 80
Deer (1989)- 98
Deer (1993)- 98
Tettleton (1990)- 99
Nicholson (1963)- 103 

So next time your at the park and its 100 degrees and your dying for a Slurpee, take heart. Not only will some free swinger undoubtedly step to the plate to cool you off with some mighty hacks, but remember you also now have a new tool to keep your brain from turning to mush… you’ve got BIP.  

RAYS NOTES: 

Who the heck was Rob Deer for those of you who don’t remember? Deer came up in the Giants farm system as a strapping power hitter…he just never developed anything resembling strikezone discipline or a two-strike swing. In 3881 career at bats, Deer hit .220 with 230 HR, 600 RBI, a .324 OBP, a .766 OPS and 1409 K…or a strikeout in 36.3% of his career at bats! 

Ray Flowers can be reached with comments/questions or suggestions at: ray@drafthelp.com

You can also visit Rays’ blog at www.wildpitch.blogspot.com for a full review of all of his recent articles an other interesting stuff.