We heard a lot of this last year as Kevin Seitzer moved into the role of hitting coach for the Atlanta Braves: make contact, control the bat, use the entire field, battle the pitcher through all counts.
As fans, we embraced this new approach. In the six seasons starting in 2010, Braves’ hitters (and fans) endured seasons in which the teams had the 11th, 13th, and 42nd most offensive strikeouts in the entire league… that’s over 180 ‘team seasons’ in the 2010-2015 period.
But those were the 2012-2014 years. And then the idea that “strikeouts are okay if the power is there” became passé.