Will Atlanta Braves Set MLB All-Time Strikeout Record in 2022?
By Seth Carter
The Atlanta Braves are on pace to break the all-time record for most strikeouts in a season. This isn’t just in franchise history but in all of Major League Baseball history. Can they be fixed?
Today, we will examine the Atlanta Braves and their record-setting pace to become strike out more than any team in the history of baseball over the course of a single season.
As you all know, strikeout numbers continue to balloon out of control. It’s just the reality of the game. We all hope that these numbers will start to head the other direction with the de-juiced balls and…
Wouldn’t it make more sense to call them juiced balls? If you juice an orange, that means you are taking the juice out of the orange, right? Leaving it a dried, whithered shell of its former self. That seems to resemble what has happened to the baseballs this year.
Anyway, with the freshly squeezed balls, power is down.
Impact of Freshly Squeezed Balls in 2022
Note: all stats cited are current as of Sat., May 28.
- 2021: MLB Slugging % Thru 05/28: .411
- 2022: MLB Slugging % Thru 05/28: .384
Soon, teams must adapt to the ball’s lower gas mileage. But how?
The obvious answer is to reintroduce the rampant use of steroids and HGH.
Actually, no.
Officially, the answer is that teams will have to start focusing on putting the ball in play more. This means they must start striking out less. Before front offices begin optimizing their squads to flush the three true outcomes turds, we may see an unfortunate record as the game makes the transition.
The Atlanta Braves Swing and Miss More Than Anyone Ever
The Atlanta Braves are striking out more than any other team in baseball.
The team’s 465 strikeouts are 21 ahead of the second-worst Arizona Diamondbacks. The Braves are striking out nearly 10 times per game! As of this writing, the official number stands at 9.89 Ks per game.
The league average K% is 22.3% thus far in 2022. Atlanta Braves players are striking out in 26.8% of their plate appearances. The Atlanta Braves strikeout percentage is 20% higher than the league average.
The Bravos are currently on pace to set the franchise’s single-season record for strikeouts in a season. In 2019, the Braves set the dubious record with 1,467.
Only twice have the Braves ever finished with more than 1,400 strikeouts.
This season the Braves are currently on pace for 1,602 strikeouts. That puts them on track to set the all-time record for strikeouts in a season, a figure that would surpass last year’s Chicago Cubs by six.
On the bright side, (as a result of swinging and missing so much) the Braves have hit into the seventh-fewest groundball double plays. So there’s a little happy spin on it…Does that make you happy?
Which Atlanta Braves Are Striking Out the Most & Can They Be Fixed?
In the next slides, we’ll take a look at the Atlanta Braves who are striking out the most. We will compare them to their career numbers and see if they can get this ship turned around.
In conclusion, I’ll let you know if the Braves will actually set the record.