More K's than Hits

by user The shark

Since Bob Gibson's single-season dominance forced the lowering of the pitcher's mound, there have been 14 offensive players who have had more career strikeouts than hits (minimum 4000 AB). Three of those are currently active: Jim Thome, Jose Hernandez, Mike Cameron. Only one is a Hall-of-Famer: Reggie Jackson. Four have 400 or more home runs: Jackson (563), Thome (450), Dave Kingman (442), and Jose Canseco (462). One is an admitted steroid user: guess who. All are pretty recognizable names.

Here's the list (statistics through May 31, 2006):

What I find most interesting is that two of the active players (Hernandez and Cameron) have among the highest ratios and the fewest home runs, proving to me that the talent pool is a little more watered down these days. At least Cameron has a great glove.

Date

Fri 06/02/06, 8:27 am EST

DNLLegend

1276 days ago

Score 5

I'd take most of these guys on my team, which I think say a lot about how overrated the "negative" aspect of strikeouts are. Seriously, imagine a lineup with Tettleton, Thome, Reggie, Cameron (b/c of the glove, too), and Kingman in their primes. Heck, give me Dean Palmer at third when he was 27... that'd be fine too. That team would have a lot of Ks, but given a good leadoff guy playing 2B or SS, it'd be pretty killer.

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The sharkDraft Pick

1276 days ago

Score 5

In doing this research, I stumbled upon the career numbers of Tim Laudner (80-89 w/ MINN). Check this out: Career 2038 at-bats, 438 hits, 1053 K's! .225 AVG. Or - a ratio of 2.404!!! 51.6 percent of his official at-bats were strikeouts! How in the world did his career last ten years?!

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The sharkDraft Pick

1276 days ago

Score 3

Doubling my research, I found Laudner's numbers to be a misprint in my first source. He actually struck out only 553 times for a much "better" ratio of 1.263 - which still would have been second on this list.

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CoreyisarealboyMajor Leaguer

1276 days ago

Score 1

You should make this an all-time team.

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CoreyisarealboyMajor Leaguer

1276 days ago

Score 1

Also, someone that just misses qualifying: Rob Deer, 3881 at-bats, 1409 strikeouts, 853 hits, 230 HR.

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DNLLegend

1276 days ago

Score 0

Deer should qualify, though, because of his walks. It should be PA, not AB :)

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DarrelSoccer Kid

1275 days ago

Score 1

That Cameron and Hernandez made the list says that strikeouts are at an all-time high, and relatively little about their talent. Cameron was, at one point, one of the best players in the league.

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Anonymous Fanatic #1

1274 days ago

Score 1

Nice work on this. It reminds me of my baseball card collection growing up.

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