The 2020 Milwaukee Brewers owned the highest strikeout percentage (K%) offensively in the NL, punching out in 26.6% of their plate appearances. That lack of contact was a major reason Milwaukee ranked 27th in runs scored in all of baseball at 4.12 runs per game.
While a high offensive K% doesn’t ensure a poor season (the AL Champion Tampa Bay Rays had a higher K% than the Brewers), it often leads to greater challenges to score consistently and a heavy reliance on outstanding performances elsewhere for success. For Milwaukee, it wasn’t just about the team whiff rate, it was a concern with too many hitters coming up empty.