Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Feedback from Sports Illustrated
We got the following e-mail from Sports Illustrated writer Jacob Luft concerning our article on his view on strikeouts:
David,
I just came across your article on the strikeouts piece I did. You did a nice job. Although I would take a small issue at this statement: "Well, one third of all outs are the last out of the inning, so right away in a third of the possible cases, K's aren't any worse than other outs." If a batter puts the ball in play with 2 outs, even if it is a routine grounder to short, there is a chance of an error or misplay that could lead to crucial runs in a close game. But if he strikes out, then that can't happen. The point being that, all things being equal, putting the ball in play is better than striking out -- most of the time. Obviously, factors like OBP are much more important. And having pitchers who strike people out is critical, too. I was just trying to point out the corollary to some of those commonly held beliefs. On a mass medium website like SI.com, I can't break out obtuse charts that will turn off the casual readers we have.
I'll make sure to visit this site more often. It looks very interesting.
-- jacob luft
posted by David 11:25 AM
