More on strikeouts. Today’s point is that Victorino and Utley didn’t strike out much compared to other NL players who hit as many home runs or more home runs than they did in 2010.
Utley hit 16 home runs in 2010 and struck out in about 12.3% of his plate appearances. Victorino hit 18 and struck out in about 12.2% of his plate appearances. There were 61 NL players who hit 16 or more home runs last season. Of those 61, only three struck out in a lower percentage of their plate appearances than Victorino did and only four (those three plus Victorino) struck out in a lower percentage of their plate appearances than Utley did.
The table below shows some of the 61 NL players who hit at least 16 home runs in 2010, including Mark Reynolds, who had the highest strikeout rate among those players, Phils Howard, Werth and Ibanez as well as Victorino, Utley and the three NL players with 16 home runs that struck out less than Victorino and Utley. The “Rank” columns indicates each player’s rank among the 61 in terms of the percentage of plate appearances in which he struck out.
| Player | HR | SO % | SO % Rank |
| Mark Reynolds | 32 | 35.4 | 1 |
| Ryan Howard | 31 | 25.3 | 11 |
| Jayson Werth | 27 | 22.5 | 20 |
| Raul Ibanez | 16 | 17.0 | 40 |
| Chase Utley | 16 | 12.3 | 57 |
| Shane Victorino | 18 | 12.2 | 58 |
| Brandon Phillips | 18 | 12.1 | 59 |
| Albert Pujols | 42 | 10.9 | 60 |
| Carlos Lee | 24 | 9.1 | 61 |
Overall, Utley, Victorino and Carlos Lee (the NL player on the list with the best strikeout rate) combined to strike out 201 times in 1,808 plate appearances. That’s less than Reynolds (the guy on the list with the worst strikeout rate) struck out in his 596 plate appearances. Reynolds struck out 211 times for the Snakes in 2010.
The Phillies beat Florida State 8-0 yesterday. Brown went 1-for-3 with a single and misplayed a fly ball in right. Seven Phillies pitchers, including Drew Naylor, Michael Stutes, Michael Schwimer and Justin De Fratus, combined to hold Florida State to four hits.
Chase Utley did not play in the game due to soreness. Manuel says Utley is not injured and will play next week if he doesn’t play Saturday.
Chad Durbin may be near a deal with the Indians.
February 25th, 2011 on 11:21 am
Utley, Utley, Utley.. how does someone get sore on February 24th?
February 25th, 2011 on 1:17 pm
With Jim: especially someone who has been training over the winter as Utley has. Chase told Daily News Live that it was the first winter in the last three where he could train as he had habitually done in the past. The implication was that he had bulked up and trained fully. And now he is too sore to play.
Is this one of those “Uh Oh” moments?
February 25th, 2011 on 1:20 pm
I think we shouldn’t worry too much. Yet. I do wish there was a little more information, thought, than his legs and knees are sore. That’s a lot of things. I actually feel pretty good about the information that Manuel gives about injuries — at least that he doesn’t usually say the guy is fine and then he turns out not to be fine at all. So I kind of believe that Manuel thinks it’s not a big deal. Hope he’s right.
February 27th, 2011 on 2:56 pm
Phillies site says that Utley has tendenitis in his right knee. He is shut down for the present (it’s day by day), surgery is a possibility but they aren’t talking about that for now. No cortisone has been administered for the present.
February 27th, 2011 on 6:36 pm
I think it’s hard to think of that as good news. I think it’s hard to know just how bad the news is yet too, though. A least it’s more specific than soreness in his legs and knees.
February 27th, 2011 on 9:51 pm
The only thing that can pass for good news is that surgery is not scheduled. The bad news is that it is an apparent possibility. And, of course, that he has been shut down for the present. It would be hard to miss the beating heart of this team, pitchers be hanged.
February 27th, 2011 on 10:21 pm
On a slightly different note, Blanton looked great. Really great. Big Ben is looking good too. But poor old (?) Dom is not. This has to be about more than where he holds his hands, doncha think?
February 28th, 2011 on 10:34 am
I really don’t know. I would tend to believe that Manuel knows what the problem is, but it does seem like there’s some things to worry about Brown even early. Long way to go, but I sure wish the Phils had more to fall back on if Brown isn’t able to contribute much in 2011. The Utley news doesn’t really make me feel all warm and fuzzy either.
February 28th, 2011 on 4:29 pm
Sports Illustrated has annointed Brown the right fielder. That is usually the kiss of death. I know I willbe following Ben’s spring very carefully.
March 1st, 2011 on 8:50 am
Even if he has a nice spring training, I’m going to be very surprised if Brown is the everyday guy in right at the start of the season. I think he could start the year in the minors or in a platoon with Francisco, but probably not as the regular right fielder. We’ll see.