The WEIRDEST Hitter In Baseball

for the longest time in baseball strikeouts were the devil you strike out and you were looked at like the devil you strike out enough times and they'd probably call an exorcist for you it was just so frowned upon typically if a player struck out a lot or had a Low batting average he was no longer in the league in today's branded baseball it's completely different the styles of play have gotten more diverse As Time I's gone on so we have pretty much everything now there's one big thing though that's different which is how the league views strikeouts overall unlike then now it's not looked at as bad if you provide Power obviously the ideal player for any team is a guy who rarely Strikes Out makes a lot of contact and has power but you know that's kind of hard to do so if you're going to pick one players now tend to sacrifice more contact and a better batting average in order to get more power that's where the money comes from so you'll see guys strike out a ton and lower their batting average but they're valued because they still hit for enough power to have value regardless you rarely look at a player with a batting average around 200 or lower and say that guy is good it's rare Joey Gallow is one of those players for a bit his best years were so freaking weird the dude hit 199 in 2021 and had the most strikeouts in baseball yet actually brought value he was an All-Star he hit to a good Ops had a good on base percentage because he had the most walks in baseball all while popping 38 home runs so that was 2021 Kyle schwarber then signed with the Phillies and said I'll take it from here I'm the weirdest hitter in baseball now so welcome back to the channel and if you're new or just haven't subscribed yet and you enjoy this video consider subscribing and leave a like thank you Kyle schwarber has never been a good batting average hitter other than one time in his career and it was for half a season the second half of 2021 after he was traded to Boston where he hit almost 300 with the Red Sox in 41 games with them his overall 2021 season was his best season average wise hitting 266 combined with the Nationals in the first half and Red Sox in the second half leading into his contract with the Phillies so he signs with Philly along with Nick castios as a poor defensive outfielder with power and it worked in fact it's worked for two seasons now at least for the most most part overall but specifically too for Kyle schwarber but also in the weirdest way if you look at some of Kyle schwarber's numbers in 2022 he looks like a terrible hitter you then look at some of his other numbers and you go wait this guy's actually really good it makes no sense in 20122 schwarber's batting average was 218 and he struck out the most times in not just the national league but in all of baseball with 200 strikeouts 200 then you see his Ops was 827 which is really good and his Ops Plus show he was way above average of a hitter then you also see that he hit 46 home runs the most in the National League the difference in philosophy really shows when you realize schwarber was and still is the Phillies leadoff hitter a leadoff hitter was always supposed to be the contact batting average get on base type guy Now teams like the Phillies are putting a man who literally strikes out more than anyone in baseball at the very top of their lineup but again it's worked worked for them and him in 2023 Kyle schwarber's bad numbers were even worse his batting average went even lower dipping below 200 at 197 and he led baseball in strikeouts again striking out 25 times yet his Ops and Ops plus were still good and shorer hit even more homers with 47 although he didn't lead the league this time because of Matt Olsen again this is a guy hitting under 200 who strikes out more than anyone and he was the lead off hitter just fascinating stuff and his War AKA wins above replacement the one number that allegedly shows how much value a player brings is also strange for multiple reasons so the number that war gives us is factoring in the value a player brings from both his offense and defense together Kyle schwarber's war in 2023 wasn't even one it was 0.6 which to me seems crazy considering he hit 47 home runs you'd assume at least I assumed he'd be looked at as way more valuable by that stat with the only explanation for this being his defense I guess his defense really is that bad but bad isn't even the right word to describe it then if it's bringing his overall value that far down his defense must be atrocious so I did some research in two different ways for one I was able to find just how truly bad schwarber's defense was as he was apparently at least at one point the worst defensive outfielder in MLB last year and the worst offensive player overall on the Phillies for some comparisons I then looked at other outfielders in baseball with similar ways of hitting s schwarber High strikeout guys mainly the new Dodger teoscar Hernandez who was a mariner in 2023 struck out the third most times in baseball with 211 of them he also had a lower Ops than schwarber and the lowest Ops of his career while also hitting 21 less homers than schwarber despite all of that his 2023 war was 2.1 another Dodger the 2023 rookie James Alman finished sixth in baseball with 181 strikeouts he also had a lower Ops than schorer hit 24 less homers yet had a war of 3.3 so despite being worse hitters than schwarber really only being better in the batting average Department Hernandez and Alman both had sign significantly better Wars because of the infinitely better defense they provided in the Outfield so like what the hell is Kyle shorer a good player or not okay obviously he is but just how good is he just how worth it is it to have him on your team one thing says he sucks another says he's great this says he sucks that says he's great his War implies his defense is so atrocious that his weirdly productive hitting barely makes up for it so what is it shorer by far got to be one of the weirdest leadoff hitters of all time the most unorthodox leadoff hitter ever but just in General it's all bizarre he's obviously making a living off the power that part isn't complicated I get that it's just wow this man really hit 197 and still put up a damn good season he basically had the same season twice in a row but even more drastic the second time he had a weird 2022 season and then got even more extreme with it in 2023 and this is all coming after he seemed to be on to something in 2021 with the batting average stuff he was actually hitting to a good batting average with the Red Sox and then said screw it I'm going to be the weirdest hitter in baseball from now on that he most definitely has been and I'm excited to see what he has in store for 2024 with this current trendy on he'll hit 180 with 230 strikeouts and 50 home runs but time will tell let me know what you think thank you for watching subscribe if you enjoyed the video and I'll see you soon