I often talk about, like all the time, strikeout and walk rates. You don’t often hear me talk about swinging strike rates. It’s not that I don’t think the measure has value, it is clearly a tool that we should be using when trying to assess performance. That being the case I thought, as the astute analyst that I am, it would probably be wise to give you all a crash course on what it means, what you need to know and what matters when it comes to swinging strike rates.

WHAT IS SWINGING STRIKE RATIO?

Simply, it’s the rate of swinging strikes per pitch.

Swinging strikes / total pitches

WHAT IS THE LEAGUE AVERAGE?

The league average is usually in the 9-10 percent range.

Batters (2015): 48 men were under 7.0 percent, 74 men were over 10.0 percent
Batters (2013-15): 56 men were under 7.0 percent, 81 men were over 10.0 percent

Pitchers (2015): 62 men were under 9.0 percent, 47 men were over 10.0 percent.
Pitchers (2013-15): 64 men were under 9.0 percent, 42 men were over 10.0 percent

* There will be leaderboards below filled with delaminating numbers for plate appearances and innings pitched that further expand on the above numbers by giving overall context.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

As a batter putting the ball in play isn’t everything, but it’s huge. You can’t move a runner along if you don’t put the ball in play (don’t throw passed balls at me). You can’t drive runners in if you don’t put the ball in play. You can’t force a defense into making an error if you aren’t making them field it. Understanding the strike zone and making contact, those are keys to an understanding of what one is trying to do on offense.

For pitchers, the opposite is true. You don’t want your fielders making mistakes. You don’t want the vagaries of batted balls getting in your way. You want to put batters away on your own by missing bats.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW?

Swinging strike rates matter for batters, but they are slightly more important to know for pitchers. A simple example. A batter can hit 30 homers and bat .240, we’ll take that in fantasy. However, if a pitcher gives up 30 homers and has a 4.80 ERA no one is happy. Moreover, a pitcher’s dominance, and ability to induce swing and misses, speaks to the overall effectiveness of the pitcher’s stuff. Guys that miss bats can dominate. Those that don’t are dependent on a myriad of factors to have success.
 

THE 2015 LEADERS

PITCHERS (minimum 100 innings pitched)

* 141 pitchers qualified

The Best

Name

SwStr%

 

Name

SwStr%

Clayton Kershaw

15.9

 

James Shields

12.4

Max Scherzer

15.3

 

Tyson Ross

12.3

Chris Sale

14.6

 

Noah Syndergaard

12.2

Francisco Liriano

14.3

 

Zack Greinke

12.0

Carlos Carrasco

14.0

 

Michael Pineda

11.9

Cole Hamels

13.3

 

David Price

11.9

Corey Kluber

12.9

 

Danny Salazar

11.8

Chris Archer

12.8

 

Jorge De La Rosa

11.7

Jacob deGrom

12.7

 

Matt Harvey

11.6

Madison Bumgarner

12.5

 

Masahiro Tanaka

11.4

 

The Worst

Name

SwStr%

 

Name

SwStr%

David Phelps

4.5

 

Jeremy Guthrie

6.3

Doug Fister

5.2

 

Ryan Vogelsong

6.3

Mark Buehrle

5.2

 

Bartolo Colon

6.4

Phil Hughes

5.5

 

Kyle Kendrick

6.4

Mike Pelfrey

5.6

 

Yovani Gallardo

6.5

Odrisamer Despaigne

5.7

 

Wily Peralta

6.8

Jon Niese

5.8

 

Josh Collmenter

6.9

Williams Perez

6.1

 

Brett Anderson

7.0

Dan Haren

6.2

 

Tanner Roark

7.1

Mike Leake

6.3

 

Scott Feldman

7.1

 

Pitchers (2015): 62 men were under 9.0 percent, 47 men were over 10.0 percent.

BATTERS (minimum 400 plate appearances)
* 211 batters qualified

The Best

SwStr%

Name

  

SwStr%

Name

 

3.1

Michael Brantley

 

4.4

Angel Pagan

3.7

Ichiro Suzuki

 

4.9

Andrelton Simmons

3.9

Daniel Murphy

 

4.9

Ender Inciarte

4.0

Eric Sogard

 

5.1

Dustin Pedroia

4.1

Nick Markakis

 

5.2

Ian Kinsler

4.1

Ben Revere

 

5.3

Jose Altuve

4.2

Ben Zobrist

 

5.4

Chase Utley

4.3

Martin Prado

 

5.4

Mookie Betts

4.3

Jose Iglesias

 

5.4

Kurt Suzuki

4.4

Joe Panik

  

5.0

Brock Holt

 

The Worst

SwStr%

Name

  

SwStr%

Name

 

17.3

Avisail Garcia

 

15.1

Yasmany Tomas

17.2

Marlon Byrd

 

14.9

J.D. Martinez

16.6

Ryan Howard

 

14.6

Mark Trumbo

16.5

Kris Bryant

 

14.5

Eddie Rosario

16.4

Chris Carter

 

14.1

Danny Espinosa

16.0

Michael Taylor

 

14.0

Joc Pederson

15.6

Chris Davis

 

13.9

George Springer

15.4

Jorge Soler

 

13.9

Steven Souza

15.2

Khris Davis

 

13.9

Nick Castellanos

15.2

Carlos Gonzalez

 

13.8

Mark Reynolds

 

Batters (2015): 48 men were under 7.0 percent, 74 men were over 10.0 percent
 

THE 2013-15 LEADERS
 

PITCHERS (minimum 300 innings pitched)

* 132 pitchers qualified

 

The Best

Name

SwStr%

 

Name

SwStr%

Clayton Kershaw

13.8

 

Corey Kluber

12.0

Francisco Liriano

13.8

 

Danny Salazar

12.0

Carlos Carrasco

13.1

 

Madison Bumgarner

11.6

Max Scherzer

13.1

 

Zack Greinke

11.4

Chris Sale

12.9

 

Felix Hernandez

11.2

Cole Hamels

12.5

 

Stephen Strasburg

11.1

Jacob deGrom

12.3

 

Homer Bailey

10.8

Tyson Ross

12.2

 

Julio Teheran

10.8

Matt Harvey

12.1

 

Chris Archer

10.7

Yu Darvish

12.1

 

Anibal Sanchez

10.6

 

The Worst

Name

SwStr%

 

Name

SwStr%

Mike Pelfrey

5.4

 

Kyle Kendrick

6.8

David Phelps

5.4

 

Henderson Alvarez

6.8

Kevin Correia

5.8

 

Yovani Gallardo

6.8

Bartolo Colon

6.1

 

Scott Feldman

6.9

Mark Buehrle

6.2

 

Jon Niese

6.9

Jeremy Guthrie

6.2

 

Joe Kelly

7.2

Ryan Vogelsong

6.6

 

Eric Stults

7.3

Jarred Cosart

6.6

 

Jordan Lyles

7.3

Doug Fister

6.8

 

Chris Tillman

7.4

Mike Leake

6.8

 

Dan Haren

7.5

 

Pitchers (2013-15): 64 men were under 9.0 percent, 42 men were over 10.0 percent

 

BATTERS (minimum 1,000 plate appearances)

* 233 batters qualified

The Best

Name

SwStr%

 

Name

SwStr%

Michael Brantley

3.5

 

Ian Kinsler

4.6

Ben Revere

3.5

 

Kurt Suzuki

4.7

Denard Span

3.6

 

Dustin Pedroia

4.8

Nori Aoki

3.7

 

Ben Zobrist

4.9

Alberto Callaspo

3.8

 

Matt Carpenter

5.0

Eric Sogard

4.0

 

Daniel Murphy

5.1

Martin Prado

4.0

 

Anthony Rendon

5.2

Nick Markakis

4.1

 

Carlos Ruiz

5.2

Angel Pagan

4.5

 

Yangervis Solarte

5.2

Victor Martinez

4.5

 

Ender Inciarte

5.2

 

The Worst

Name

SwStr%

 

Name

SwStr%

Josh Hamilton

17.5

 

Mark Reynolds

14.8

Avisail Garcia

17.1

 

Jarrod Saltalamacchia

14.8

Mike Zunino

16.6

 

Pedro Alvarez

14.7

Chris Carter

16.2

 

J.D. Martinez

14.6

Ryan Howard

16.2

 

Carlos Gonzalez

14.6

Marlon Byrd

16.2

 

Khris Davis

14.4

Tyler Flowers

15.8

 

Mark Trumbo

14.4

Chris Davis

15.4

 

Chris Johnson

14.3

Brandon Barnes

15.3

 

Adam Jones

14.1

Melvin Upton

15.2

 

Yasiel Puig

13.9

 

Batters (2013-15): 56 men were under 7.0 percent, 81 men were over 10.0 percent