As I’ve written in the past, strikeouts are going to get more and more common. Although they’re nothing to be scared of, some players avoid them like the plague. So today I’m going to be answering the question of who strikes out the least in the MLB.
First, we need to bring up the one prospect that comes to mind. That prospect is Nick Madrigal of the White Sox. Madrigal struck out an unreal 3% of the time. Usually, when a player doesn’t strike out, they don’t hit for power. That’s true for Madrigal, and just about everyone I will bring up today.
The leader in AB/SO is Willians Astudillo, a C for the Twins who only struck out 8 times in 190 AB. In fact, in his 2 year career he has a 3.6% K percentage. Astudillo is the king of avoiding strikeouts.
The next person in line is Luis Arraez, a standout rookie for the Twins. He had 11.2 AB/K. Arraez gets on base where Astudillo can’t, as he had a .334/.399/.439 slashline. Both Astudillo and Arraez lack in HR, but then again, that’s the sacrifice.
Next up in the list was defensive standout Andrelton Simmons, and the highest qualified hitter was Hanser Alberto of the Orioles. Alberto only struck out 50 times in 550 PA, good for a 9% K percentage. The next up was all-star Tommy La Stella, and then Joe Panik was up next. The NL’s first qualified hitter was Kevin Newman who had an 7.95 AB/K.
Yuli Gurriel was the first power hitter, as he had an 8.68 AB/K. He had 31 HR. (An article is coming later today on why I hate Yuli Gurriel.
As for the worst in the league, it was the once great hitter Madison Bumgarner with a 1.58 AB/K. Defensively stellar Keon Broxton was next, followed by power hitters Robel Garcia and Joey Gallo. Chris Davis was also up there along with Zack Collins and Miguel Sano.
Enough with this AB/K business. Who led the league in K?
The leader in K was Eugenio Suarez, followed by Ronald Acuna Jr and Pete Alonso. Bryce Harper was next, followed by Rougned Odor and Jorge Soler. All 6 of those players had 30 or more HR.
Among players with more than 75 PA, Astudillo had the least K with 8. And he had 200 PA! Willians Astudillo can avoid strikeouts like no other.
Strikeouts come in baseball. They’re nothing to be scared of, but some players like Willians Astudillo and Hanser Alberto avoid them so well that they win the Low K Award.