Lee Jeong-hoo, a ‘contradiction of description’ who is the best contact hitter and the b

An expression that frequently appears in American media articles introducing Lee Jeong-hoo is 'Bat to Ball Skill.' It literally refers to the ability to touch a flying ball with the bat, that is, 'contact ability'. It can also be seen as the ability to avoid swings and misses. Anyone can assume that Lee Jeong-hoo, who ranked first in batting average in Korean professional baseball history, will excel in this ability. However, the word ‘excellent’ feels inadequate in expressing Lee Jeong-hoo’s ‘ability to hit the ball.’

A batter who is good at hitting balls with the bat rarely strikes out. So, of course, Lee Jeong-hoo doesn't strike out often. During his 7-year professional career, Lee Jeong-hoo struck out only 304 times in 3,947 plate appearances. He struck out in only 7.7% of his plate appearances. Among active players, he naturally ranks first in 'minimum strikeout rate' and ranks sixth in the entire history of professional baseball.

However, there is a catch in the table above. This is because it is dangerous to conclude that the five players above Lee Jeong-hoo are ‘better at avoiding strikeouts’ than Lee Jeong-hoo. This is because the ‘historical background’ in which the players played is different.

One of the 'long-term trends' that runs through professional baseball history is the increase in strikeouts. In 1982, his first year as a professional, only 10.4% of all at-bats ended with strikeouts. The strikeout rate, which was around 10% throughout the 80s, has steadily increased since the 90s. It exceeded 15% in 1996, 17% in 2002, and reached an all-time high of 18.8% in 2018. In other words, the frequency of strikeouts in today's professional baseball games is about twice as high as it was 40 years ago. This phenomenon is also true overseas. The major league strikeout rate, which was 13.2% in 1982, increased to 22.7% this year. The strikeout rate in Japanese professional baseball, which was 12.4% in 1982, rose to 19.3% this year.

There are two main reasons.

1. The number of batters aiming for long hits has increased. It was revealed that a .205 hitter who hits 40 home runs contributes more to offense than a .300 hitter who only hits singles, and the value of home run hitters has increased. Many hitters have built up their muscles through weight training and are equipped with a 'full swing' that produces long hits. Hitters who aim for long hits generally pay a tax on swings and misses and strikeouts.

2. The pitchers’ pitches have improved significantly. Pitchers 40 years ago were slower and had simpler pitches than today. Cutter and changeup were words that ‘didn’t exist in the world,’ and pitchers who threw forkballs were rare. Except for a very small number of aces, most of them were pitchers who could hit. From the pitchers’ perspective, ‘pitching to catch’ was an effective strategy. The batting speed of hitters who lacked power was much slower than now. The probability of a batted ball hitting the bat going over the fence or being a long hit was much lower than it is now. In other words, it was not dangerous even if it was adjusted.

So, in <Table 1> above, the batters who 'strike out less than Lee Jeong-hoo' are all batters who were active in the 1980s. At the time, their ability to ‘avoid three strikes’ did not seem very unusual. This was a time when no one struck out. For example, Kim Il-kwon, whose career strikeout rate was 5.9%, the lowest ever, recorded the ‘minimum strikeout rate in a season’ of 2.3% in 1988. However, 2.3% was only 7.6% lower than the league average strikeout rate of 9.9% in 1988. 스포츠토토

Lee Jeong-hoo's era is different from then. Last year's league-wide strikeout rate was 18.7%, nearly double that of 1988. However, Lee Jeong-hoo's strikeout rate last year was only 5.1%. It was the lowest figure in 31 years since Baek In-ho in 1991, and was a whopping 13.6% lower than the league average. Which hitter had a strikeout rate 13% below the league average? This has never happened in the history of professional baseball.