Royals broadcaster Rex Hudler has been consistent about two things all year. First, he thinks hitters need to shorten (or, after speaking with team Hall of Famer John Mayberry, “cut back on”) their swings. The other is that while strikeouts are sexy, they’re an inefficient way to get outs and lead to pitchers being unable to pitch deep into games. However, that begs the question: If strikeouts are so inefficient, then why are teams (including the Royals) chasing them?
Counting pitches
First, I decided to dig into the numbers of how many pitches it takes to get a strikeout.