The amount of HR's hit this year in MLB totaled 6105, eclipsing the old high of 5693, hit during the height of the "steroids era" in 2000. The HR rate per team per game increased by 7.7%.
MLB also set a record for strikeouts this year with 40,104 K's. Compared to the year 2000 total of 31,356, that represents an increase of 8748 K's. The K-rate jumped from 16.5% in 2000 to 21.6% in 2017, for a skyrocketing increase of 31%.
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| The superb Joey Votto (zimbio.com) |
With the new concept of "launch angle", brought on by the Statcast era, hitters are trying to hit more fly balls, instead of ground balls which are gobbled up by infield shifts. More fly balls and juiced-up baseballs have created an environment that is conducive to long and frequent home runs, surpassing the "steroids era" with the negative side effect of record-setting strikeouts. A lot of good things happen when contact is made. The concept of situational hitting seems almost lost with this generation. Power hitters with a low strikeout rate should be at a premium in today's baseball. It seems as if the "juice" is not gone, it just moved from the players to the baseballs.
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