FSU baseball: Why’s the strikeout rate for Nole hitters so high?

FSU baseball hitters are striking out at a record pace through six games in the 2021 season. The Noles have had 210 official at-bats resulting in 73 strikeouts.

That’s 34.7 percent of their at-bats, but for a better perspective, 73 of their 174 total outs(42 percent) have come via the strikeout.

Full transparency, two players account for 21 of those 73 strikeouts. However, the majority of the team is striking out around 30 percent of the time.

Why is that the case? I know you must assume they have faced Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, and Bob Gibson in those six games.

No, but with respect to the pitchers from North Florida and Pittsburgh, but the issues have more to do with FSU hitters than the opposing pitchers.

A lot of factors go into being a good hitter. The first thing is confidence, and trust me, I’ve been on both sides. I had stretches in my college career where it didn’t matter who was on the mound, because I was crushing whatever came in my zone.

However, I had games where I felt like I had a blindfold on as the pitches came. Whenever that happens, good hitters go back to the basic fundamentals, which for me, was making sure I attacked pitches that were strikes and not trying to hit the ball 400 feet.

A lot of times, the best time to do that is on the first-pitch. If a pitcher gets ahead in the count, the batter is already at a disadvantage, especially if it’s a good pitcher because the batter likely won’t see another good pitch to hit in that at-bat.

I always looked fastball and adjusted to anything off-speed. If a pitcher threw anything off-speed for a first pitch strike, I usually didn’t swing and tipped my cap to him.

If he came with a first-pitch fastball anywhere near the zone? I was swinging, usually trying to hit the ball up the middle or to rightfield(would be leftfield if I was left-handed) unless the ball was middle-in.

That approach does two things. It forces me to not pull off of the ball, which usually results in a weak grounder to the short-stop when a right-handed batter tries to pull an outside pitch.

This approach allows me to avoid being fooled on most offspeed pitches because I’m letting the ball get deep in the zone before I’m looking to make contact.

Hitting the ball to right field is the same exact swing as normal, but the only difference is where I’m making contact in the zone:

The other key to having good at-bats is knowing the situation. Let’s go through a couple of scenarios.

Let’s say I’m batting, and the pitcher throws me a fastball for a strike, and I swing and foul the pitch straight back. I’m behind in the count 0-1, but the pitcher knows I’m dead on timing-wise and is likely not going to throw that pitch back-to-back.

I’m still going to look fastball and adjust to the offspeed stuff by keeping my hands back, but I must remember I’m already behind in the count.

Let’s say he throws a curveball on the outer half of the plate I take for strike No. 2. That means I’m down 0-2 in the count and he’ll likely throw pitches outside the zone to see if I’ll bite. Why throw a strike if you don’t have to, right?

Any smart pitcher is going to try and get you to swing at a pitch outside of the strike zone. At this point, I’m still looking to hit the ball to right field, but I’m also shortening up my swing and looking to put the ball in play, while only swinging at pitches in the strike zone.

There are too many occasions where I’ve seen FSU batters who are not power hitters swinging out of their shoes with two strikes, resulting in a strikeout. There are too many occasions where I’ve seen FSU batters take a pitch right down the middle for strike three.

When that happens, it means the batter is thinking too much or guessing which pitch the pitcher may throw. If a hitter guesses anything offspeed and a fastball comes, he has no shot, which is why hitters should always look fastball and adjust to the offspeed stuff. Batters looking to hit the ball up the middle or to rightfield give themselve a tad more time to identify the pitch too.

What happens when it’s a hitter’s count, meaning you know the pitcher wants to throw a strike more than likely? Those counts are 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 3-1, and usually, in those counts, I’m looking for a fastball to drive somewhere. If the pitcher throws something offspeed, tip your cap, but understand you’re still in the driver’s seat unless you miss the 2-1 pitch you should have crushed.

FSU baseball hitters can solve their hitting woes by changing two things:

• Looking to hit the ball up the middle or to right field, thus giving them more time to identify the pitches
• Swinging at pitches in the strike zone( I know, it’s a genius move)

It’s that simple. Batters can eliminate half the battle by understanding the strike zone and not going outside of it. I mean, you can get on base and never swing the bat if you have a good eye! The key is getting the pitcher in hitter’s counts, so you’ll have a better idea of what’s coming. Here’s to hoping they can find their groove in their next outing against Virginia.