For the 12th consecutive season, strikeouts around baseball rose. League-wide, players struck out 40,105 times and in 21.63 percent of their plate appearances, breaking records in both categories that were set in 2016. San Francisco Giants’ second baseman Joe Panik didn’t do a whole lot to contribute to those records.
Making contact seems like such a simple concept. The pitcher throws the ball, then the batter hits it. That’s the way baseball has been for well over a century, and there really is no way to change that in the future. Pitchers pitch, hitters hit. That’s the way it is.