Kasper: Strikeouts Are 'Not As Bad As People Think'
CHICAGO (WSCR) As sabermetrics continue to become more and more commonplace, we're beginning to have a different view of the statistics that were once thought to be important when evaluating baseball players. One of these stats is strikeouts.
"They're simply not as bad as people think," Cubs broadcaster Len Kasper said on the Danny Mac Show. "It doesn't mean they're good, and I've gotten into a lot arguments with people who then decide that I love strikeouts. And that's not what it is."
"There's several things with strikeouts: By and large, they're outs, you work deeper counts than a swing and a ground ball to the shortstop, I'm talking routine ground balls. And the argument against that is: 'Well the shortstop can make an error.' And that's absolutely true, but how often does it happen.
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"The example that I use is the 2006 Cubs. They made a lot of contact that year...but it was bad contact."
Much like strikeouts are becoming more acceptable, a player's batting average has been devalued to an extent. The emphasis is now slowly shifting to on-base percentage and on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS).
