The Bryan Ratio

Kris Bryant wants to bring his strikeouts down to his his walk level.

If Bryant has a No. 1 individual goal this season, it’s to narrow that gap so much that it becomes essentially imperceptible.

“There’s a lot of really good hitters that have high averages and not the highest on-base percentages, but I don’t want to be just a good hitter — I want to be a great hitter,” he said. “So you take your walks when they come. It’s all about getting on base and scoring runs.”

Bryant could spent the rest of his career focusing on lowering his strikeouts and raising his walks and it would still be next to impossible to reach Joey Votto territory. The Reds first baseman walked 134 times last season, the most in baseball and 51 times more than he struck out. That’s some seriously rare air.

But maybe a ratio of 1:1 is achievable?

“One-to-one is obviously superstar level,” Bryant said. “I think Anthony [Rizzo] did that last year.”

Fewer strikeouts should lead to a higher batting average, as a player’s BA depends on BABIP, home runs, and strikeouts. Remove the negative of strikeouts, and the home runs can push a BA well over the BABIP. Bryant’s career BABIP is .346, so fewer strikeouts could lead to a batting title.

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2pgEc5N