Sometimes, Orioles fans may overreact.
Sometimes. Slightly.
Take for example when the O’s struck out an MLB record 52 times in a series earlier this year against the Astros. To put that in perspective, the Orioles were two strikeouts away from having two full games worth of strikeouts. That’s a whole bunch of K’s.
Don’t get me wrong, things like this are very disappointing to watch as a fan. It can be painful to watch at times, but, we as Oriole fans love watching this team mash baseballs out of the ballpark.
So, we are going to have to accept the strikeouts.
A power hitting team like the Orioles is going to strike out, a lot. It’s in the nature of most power hitters. Guys like Chris Davis, Adam Jones, and Mark Trumbo all might hit 30+ home runs. They all also have the possibility to strike out 200 times.
They might have slumps where you watch an at bat of theirs and think “what are they swinging at?”, and then the next week celebrate while they multiple home runs in just a couple days. Last year, Davis hit 47 home runs, and drove in 117 runs. However, he struck out 208 times. His career year in 2013, he struck out 199 times.
He has a longer swing, but when he gets a hold of the ball, it goes a long way. But that long swing gets him in trouble, cause if he misses, he misses big.
The Astros finished second behind the Blue Jays in homer last season (230) and second in strikeouts (1,392). When the O’s led the league in dingers in 2014 (211) they struck out 1,285 times as a team.
So, the next time the Orioles strike out a lot and you think about saying this team “can’t hit”, think about how you feel when the team hits the ball out of the ball park with almost reckless abandon.
