After the 2017 season, a narrative began to appear surrounding the current iteration of the Rays: These Rays have a lot more swing and miss in their game than previous iterations.
In 2017, the Rays collectively struck out in a quarter of their plate appearances, reaching that dubious landmark for the first time in franchise history. Of the 13 Rays to collect at least 200 plate appearances last season, 11 had strikeout rates over 20 percent, six had strikeout rates over 25 percent, and two topped the mystical 30 percent figure.
The only player in the top ten in plate appearances to post a sub-20 percent strikeout rate last season was Evan Longoria with his 16.