White Sox pitchers: Top-down strikeout standouts
It used to be recording more strikeouts than innings pitched was a rare feat, the domain of elite flamethrowers - legends like Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez.
These days it has been reduced to ho-hum status. Of the 25 Major League pitchers who have thrown the most innings this season, 16 have fanned at least one batter per inning. Of the 30 teams, 15 have achieved it.
But for top-to-bottom consistent strikeout prowess, no club can match the White Sox. Aside from Dallas Keuchel, every Sox pitcher (minimum 30 innings of work) has whiffed at least one batter per inning. That's 12 hurlers in all, from team leader Dylan Cease (188 in 143⅔ innings) to Matt Foster (38 in 35 innings).
Their consistent ability in this department has pushed the Sox to the Majors' pinnacle in strikeout rate - 10.3 per nine innings, just ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers' 10.2 and the Los Angeles Dodgers' 10.
And it's sure to come in handy in the postseason, especially in those instances where a reliever inherits baserunners and needs to limit damage that could come from a groundout or fly out.
Wisdom's hot/cold campaign
If he stays healthy, Cubs' third baseman Patrick Wisdom is almost certain to eclipse Kris Bryant's club record for most home runs (26) by a rookie.
But he won't challenge Bryant's team record of 199 strikeouts. To do that, he'd need about 500 plate appearances, given his MLB-leading 40% strikeout rate (119 strikeouts in 296 plate appearances). On the plus side, Wisdom's 25 home runs in 271 at bats (through Friday) give him the third-highest home run rate in the Majors.
Remember when the record for strikeouts by a batter was Bobby Bonds' 189 in 1970?
That mark held for 34 years, when then-Cincinnati Red slugger Adam Dunn fanned three times against Cubs pitcher Mark Prior on Sept. 30, 2004 to finish the game at 191. He wound up with 195 Ks that year.
And those 189 strikeouts of Bonds, the father of the all-time (asterisked) home run king Barry Bonds? It's not even in the Top 30 anymore.
Moncada's streak not so hot
Baseball fans are enamored of streaks, with Cal Ripken Jr's 2,632 consecutive games played and Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak among the data points emblazoned in our minds.
Of course, not all streaks are created equal. Take Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada's 17-game hitting streak (the Majors' longest active one) after he went 1-for-4 in the 7-2 loss to the Royals Friday.
Peel back that surface figure to find a solid .337 average (22-for-65) in that span, but with only three doubles and one home run. As a result, his slugging percentage for 2021 has barely budged, going from .391 to .397 and his OPS inching from .757 to .771. Both are below his career norms (.436 and .781 respectively).
Vlad Jr. watch continues
Remember two weeks ago, when this "Go Figure" column noted that the Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had a very real shot at the Triple Crown (first in home runs, RBI, and batting average)?
His chances are more alive than ever: Heading into Saturday, his 39 home runs were three shy of the lead, his 97 RBI were five short of Jose Abreu's league-leading 102, and he was in a virtual dead-heat for batting average (. 3157, a tick behind the Astros' Michael Brantley's .3163).
If Guerrero finishes first in all three categories, he may well see a surge in consideration for the MVP award. That honor has seemed destined to go to Angels pitcher/designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, MLB's home run leader, but voters may well be hard-pressed to deny the nod to a Triple Crown winner.
• Matt Baron supplements his baseball brainpower with Retrosheet.org for research.