There are some players in Major League Baseball who just won’t go down on strikes.
These players are a pitcher’s worst nightmare—the ones who foul off pitch after pitch, battling until they find a pitch they can put into play. The batter might ground out, fly out or line out, but he definitely isn’t going to strike out.
Oftentimes, players who don’t fall by way of the K very often see many pitches and walk frequently. If you think about it, this makes plenty of sense. The batter waits for the perfect pitch, and if he doesn’t see it before the pitcher throws two strikes, he’s going to do his best to work the count. As the pitcher throws more and more pitches, it becomes more likely that the batter watches four balls get called.
But this isn’t about walking, it’s about not striking out. It’s about having a good enough eye to determine a difference between pitches. It’s about what a batter has to do to avoid swinging and missing on a pitch down the pipe or letting the umpire make the ultimate decision for him.
Here are the eight toughest batters to strike out in all of baseball.
*All statistics were obtained via FanGraphs unless otherwise noted. All contract information was obtained via Cot’s Contracts. All injury information was obtained via Baseball Prospectus.