Ryan Howard’s strikeouts
Posted by Andy on September 24, 2007
Ryan Howard is poised to become the new all-time leader for strikeouts in a season. At the moment he is tied with Adam Dunn at 195. Here's the full list, and here are the leaders:
Cnt Player **SO** Year Age Tm Lg G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS Positions +----+-----------------+-------+----+---+---+--+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+---------+ 1 Ryan Howard 195 2007 27 PHI NL 138 623 508 88 134 26 0 42 125 103 31 5 0 7 13 1 0 .264 .388 .563 .951 *3/D 2 Adam Dunn 195 2004 24 CIN NL 161 681 568 105 151 34 0 46 102 108 11 5 0 0 8 6 1 .266 .388 .569 .957 *73/D 3 Adam Dunn 194 2006 26 CIN NL 160 683 561 99 131 24 0 40 92 112 12 6 1 3 8 7 0 .234 .365 .490 .855 *7/3D 4 Bobby Bonds 189 1970 24 SFG NL 157 745 663 134 200 36 10 26 78 77 7 2 1 2 6 48 10 .302 .375 .504 .879 *98/7 5 Jose Hernandez 188 2002 32 MIL NL 152 582 525 72 151 24 2 24 73 52 5 4 0 1 19 3 5 .288 .356 .478 .834 *6 6 Preston Wilson 187 2000 25 FLA NL 161 674 605 94 160 35 3 31 121 55 1 8 0 6 11 36 14 .264 .331 .486 .817 *8 7 Bobby Bonds 187 1969 23 SFG NL 158 720 622 120 161 25 6 32 90 81 3 10 3 4 9 45 4 .259 .351 .473 .824 *98 8 Rob Deer 186 1987 26 MIL AL 134 566 474 71 113 15 2 28 80 86 6 5 0 1 4 12 4 .238 .360 .456 .816 *793/D 9 Jose Hernandez 185 2001 31 MIL NL 152 592 542 67 135 26 2 25 78 39 8 2 5 4 9 5 4 .249 .300 .443 .743 *6/87 10 Jim Thome 185 2001 30 CLE AL 156 644 526 101 153 26 1 49 124 111 14 4 0 3 9 0 1 .291 .416 .624 1.040 *3/D 11 Pete Incaviglia 185 1986 22 TEX AL 153 606 540 82 135 21 2 30 88 55 2 4 0 7 9 3 2 .250 .320 .463 .783 *9D/7 12 Jim Thome 182 2003 32 PHI NL 159 698 578 111 154 30 3 47 131 111 11 4 0 5 5 0 3 .266 .385 .573 .958 *3/D 13 Cecil Fielder 182 1990 26 DET AL 159 673 573 104 159 25 1 51 132 90 11 5 0 5 15 0 1 .277 .377 .592 .969 *3D 14 Ryan Howard 181 2006 26 PHI NL 159 704 581 104 182 25 1 58 149 108 37 9 0 6 7 0 0 .313 .425 .659 1.084 *3 15 Mo Vaughn 181 2000 32 ANA AL 161 712 614 93 167 31 0 36 117 79 11 14 0 5 14 2 0 .272 .365 .498 .863 *3D 16 Mike Schmidt 180 1975 25 PHI NL 158 674 562 93 140 34 3 38 95 101 10 4 6 1 7 29 12 .249 .367 .523 .890 *56
One amazing thing is that Howard's played in just 138 games so far, missing 18 games to this point. If he'd played those 18 and struck out at the same rate, he'd have 220 K's already!
As it stands, unless something unusual happens, he's going to finish with over 200. Of course, with 42 HR and 125 RBI, it's manageable. But it's not quite as impressive as getting 200 walks in a season.
September 24th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I was researching this early actually, in light of Howard's steady pursuit of the record. Most of these seasons aren't awful, in fact a lot of them are pretty good, except for the ones from Jose Hernandez.
Jack Cust is also having in interesting year w/r/t K's. He's got over 150 right now in less than 500 plate appearances, and under 400 official AB's.
September 24th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Neat point. If Cust strikes out 3 more times in 21 or fewer ABs, he'll get the record for most Ks in 400 or fewer ABs:
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/QpcS
Who holds the record now? I'll give you a clue---Bo knows strikeouts.
September 24th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Bo had 106 K in 284 AB in 1993. Jay Buhner had some gross looking years in there too.
Oh hey, Deron Johnson again.
September 24th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Yeah, I've singled-handedly increased Deron Johnson's fame significantly.
September 24th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
One more interesting discovery from Ryan Howard's SO record this year and Adam Dunn's SO record in 2004, and we will know how exaggerated Howard's record is. In 2004, Adam Dunn had 123 games with at least 1K over his 162 games. No game is with 4K, and 11 games are with 3K. This year, Ryan Howard has 105 games with at least 1K, but 4 games are with 4K. In addition, his 3K-games are 19. But 19 3K-games are not the highest record this year. Dan Uggla has 21 3K-games this year. I'm not sure whether Dan Uggla's 21 3K-games record is the record in a single season in MLB history, but it's funny.
September 24th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
cchien- Howard's 19 3K games are the most in the majors this year and tied with Preston Wilson 2000 for the most since '57. Uggla has 12 3K games:
http://www.bb-ref.com/pi/shareit/FyCY
September 24th, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Bonds still holds the record for most Ks by a lead off hitter. In 1970 he had 184 Ks at the lead off spot. Wowza.