The Ultimate Pat Burrell Post: Part 5 - Strikeouts

The toughest part of these posts has come. Us trying to rectify that Burrell striking out isn't a horrible thing is like saying Cole Hamels being a bare-knuckle boxer during the offseason is okay. So before we continue, let us remind everyone before this post that we are not claiming that Pat Burrell is the best Phillie ever or that he is the next Carl Yastrzemski. So bear with us on this...

The statement we so often hear:
Burrell's strikeouts are killing our team. He takes it right down the middle and looks horrible swinging at low and away pitches.

First let us give you the numbers on Burrell:

Year - k's - NL Rank
2000 - 139 - 5
2001 - 162 - 3
2002 - 153 - 5
2003 - 142 - 6
2004 - 130 - not in top 10 (woohoo)
2005 - 160 - 2
2006 - 131 - 10

What does this show us? For one, Burrell has never struck out less that 130 times in a season. Second, besides 2004 he has finished in the top 10 of strikeouts every year of his career. So the statement that Burrell whiffs to much is very clear. But Burrell striking out at the plate over 130 times is about as routine as me striking out with the rich hoes in Old City on a Saturday night. You just come to expect it and learn to bear with the shameful truth.

So let us look at Burrell's two best years (in our opinion), 2002 and 2005. Both years he hit over .280/30/100 and placed 14th and 7th in the MVP voting, respectively. His strikeout total these years: 153 and 160. His second and third highest totals of his career. So does this mean the more Burrell strikes out the better he will be? No. But this can show us that Burrell's strikeouts will always be there and they may or may not hinder his performance in other offensive areas.

Here is a scenario to consider:

If Burrell strikes out only 75 times but hits only 20 homers, fans would consider that a poor year and call for his execution at City Hall. If, however, he K's 170 times and hits over 40 bombs, people would be calling for a contract extension. Basically we are saying that fans tend to look at strikeouts only when a player is failing in other areas of their game. If Burrell was hitting the cover off the ball (2002, 2005) on a nightly basis, no one would be talking about his high K total. Just like no one says "Don't give Howard a long term deal. He is a strikeout machine." Strikeouts are only mentioned when a player isn't producing, which we feel shouldn't concern Burrell. Read our previous posts and you will see he is producing.

Also, if you are a small-ball team, you don't want many players with over 100 strikeouts. You would want players who put wood on the ball and can move runners. But guess what, the Phillies aren't your typical small ball team. A Citizen's Blog has a great post on how the Phillies follow your typical Moneyball/Big Ball/ Powerhouse style of baseball. For this you need power/homerun hitters...and with this comes numerous strikeouts.

Power hitters strikeout a lot. It's science. Here are some names you will most likely see finishing in the top ten in strikeouts each year:

Jim Thome
Adam Dunn
Jim Edmonds
Ryan Howard
David Ortiz
Alex Rodriguez
Alfonso Soriano

And here is something half of the city won't want me talking about. Both Chase Utley and Ryan Howard struck out more that Burrell in 2006. Granted...they both had more at bats and both produced more offensively. This does, however, show you that you cannot simply look at a players K total to determine their worth to a team. Howard will almost certainly be in the top 5 each season in strikeouts. It is just something we are going to have to deal with...much like Burrell.

The strikeouts looking, however, are another thing entirely. This past season, Pat led the Majors in being caught looking. We can't find the numbers anywhere on these but we are fairly sure he went down looking over 60 times. Why is this? Do the umps hate Burrell? Is he just unlucky with the calls on the corner of the plate? No... Burrell has lost his aggressiveness. He seems unsure at the plate and is uncomfortable when he is at bat. Some claim he is looking for a walk when the count gets full. Does this make us happy?....Umm, is Paris Hilton a whore? It needs to be rectified and I am confident the 2006 boobirds helped Pat realize this. So I guess we will have to wait and see what Burrell will show us in 2007.

Wow...okay. So there it is. It's the best we could do. For the other posts it was fairly easy for us to make cases against the Burrell-haters. For this...not so much. It was tough to tell people that always striking out over 100 times isn't a bad thing. It clearly is and is very tough to swallow. But while Burrell is constantly striking out on the field, we can all sleep at night knowing he is not striking out at a nightclub near by. Godspeed Patrick Brian.

Remaining: Defensive Liability, Summary Post (with new arguments brought up)

Sidenote: The posts on this page will become more regular now that I am back in my gay school routine after break. Also, I just started an internship at 610 WIP. My plan is to infiltrate them from the inside and take out Eskin with a swift ninja kick when he is least expecting it.