STRIKEOUTS

  If a Major League baseball player is to have a career batting average of .300 or greater, he must also have a career strikeout rate of less than 100 strikeouts per season.
  If your kid, for example, has a low batting average, check his strikeouts.

   If he can't hit the ball,

   he can't get a hit;

   and if he can't get a hit

   he can't raise his batting average.

 The same is true for Major Leaguers.

  Some of the greatest hitters for average and homerun sluggers in the Baseball Hall of Fame struck out less than 100 times in each season throughout their long careers.  The short list includes Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Pete Rose, Chipper Jones, George Brett, Rod Carew, and Tony Gwynn.   The great ones understand the value of striking out less.
   At the end of each Major League season, only about a dozen players or less in each league will finish the year with a batting average of .300 or more.  As for the others, check their strikeouts.
   If your kid, for example, maintains a low batting average, from T Ball through high school, don't expect college or Major League scouts to knock at his door.  If he is unable to fix his strikeouts now, he will not likely fix them later because he was never able to shake his bad habits.
   Scouts look for players that can hit the ball instead of those that drag their bats back to the dugout.
   Obviously, in order for a baseball player to improve his batting average, three things must happen:

      1.  Stop swinging and missing the ball.
      2.  Stop swinging at bad pitches (pitches out of the strike zone).
      3.  Stop taking strike three.