Hard Contact

This came up in the comments of my JD Drew post and I thought it would make an interesting post of its own. Manny Ramirez is 15th all-time in strikeouts, tied with Dale Murphy, and should enter the top 10 this year (Jim Thome is #2 on the list, but assuming he’s done as an everyday player, he’s likely to fall short of the 284 Ks he needs to catch Reggie). But Manny is #1 on the career K list of lifetime .300 hitters. Here’s the top 10, or rather top 12 since #10-12 were so close together. I included in the chart BA-K, which is batting average when not striking out; BABIP, which is average on balls in play (i.e., when not striking out or homering); K/plate appearances; and BB/K ratio.

# Player SO BA PA AB H HR BB BA-K BABIP K/PA BB/K
1 Manny Ramirez 1748 0.313 9437 7962 2494 546 1283 0.401 0.344 18.5% 0.73
2 Alex Rodriguez 1738 0.305 9611 8304 2531 583 1060 0.385 0.326 18.1% 0.61
3 Willie Mays 1526 0.302 12493 10881 3283 660 1464 0.351 0.302 12.2% 0.96
4 Derek Jeter 1466 0.317 9809 8659 2747 224 885 0.382 0.362 14.9% 0.60
5 Frank Thomas 1397 0.301 10074 8199 2468 521 1667 0.363 0.310 13.9% 1.19
6 Hank Aaron 1383 0.305 13940 12364 3771 755 1402 0.343 0.295 9.9% 1.01
7 Babe Ruth 1330 0.342 10617 8399 2873 714 2062 0.406 0.340 12.5% 1.55
8 Jimmie Foxx 1311 0.325 9670 8134 2646 534 1452 0.388 0.336 13.6% 1.11
9 Paul Molitor 1244 0.306 12160 10835 3319 234 1094 0.346 0.330 10.2% 0.88
10 Chipper Jones 1231 0.307 9273 7825 2406 426 1343 0.365 0.321 13.3% 1.09
11 Larry Walker 1231 0.313 8030 6907 2160 383 913 0.381 0.336 15.3% 0.74
12 Roberto Clemente 1230 0.317 10212 9454 3000 240 621 0.365 0.346 12.0% 0.50

A few interesting notes:
-Manny and Babe Ruth are the only guys on the list to bat .400 career when not striking out. Without checking, they may be the only ones ever; Rogers Hornsby batted .391 when not striking out, Ted Williams .379, Ty Cobb .385 for the years when we have strikeout data (1913-28, during which he hit .367, a point above to his career average), Ichiro .369, Albert Pujols .375.
-Only Jeter and Clemente here top Manny’s .344 average on balls in play. Jeter’s got to be near the top of that list all-time (Cobb’s at .378 for the years we have strikeout data, Hornsby for his career is at .365, Ichiro .359, Pujols .321).
-Manny and A-Rod easily top the chart in stikeout frequency, not just totals, making their career averages that much more impressive.
-Clemente, unsurprisingly, has the worst BB/K ratio on the list, followed by Jeter and A-Rod; Ruth, of course, had the best.

4 thoughts on “Hard Contact”

  1. Very interesting stuff. Reaffirms what I have said here many times about Manny. Seven years of watching that guy hit were seven years of being treated to a legendary hitter’s ABs. When he was locked in (end of 2007 + first 2 rounds of the playoffs) he was as difficult an out as you can imagine. The PED stuff will hang over him but maybe the greatest right-handed swing I have ever seen.

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