Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

Just read a post by Corky proposing 47 Mize because he is the only player in history with 50 HRs and less than 50 strikeouts.
It got me thinking.

Does that really matter in strat?

There is a school of thought in real MLB analysis that an out is an out no matter how it is made. Now in real life if you do not strike out and at least put the ball in play there is a chance of being mishandled. But in strat only chances for an error come on the pitcher card and are fixed in stone the same for all pitcher's and hitters. So is there any advantage to be gained by selecting hitters with low strikeout rates?

I'd prefer a K to a gb(a).

A chance to move runners due to the out made whereas the K keeps the player at the base. I also agree though that a gbA is not a good thing.

Agree with Joe. As long as the gba numbers are low I'd like the chance to move runners over rather than a K.

Runner on 3rd base, less than 2 outs, I'd prefer anything to a K.

I think most strat players seem to turn a blind eye to Willie Mays' gbA's....

If you have a slow team, then K's are probably better. If you've got some speed, I don't usually worry about the double play potential.

In my opinion, I think it depends on the team style and lineup balance.

A gbA and in some cases even gbB can have a big impact on teams that don't generate a lot of runs (ie small ball). While folks may be faster, it really doesn't enter into the business rules of what happens during that result, outside of stealing and the "+" symbol, and a propensity to bunt/HnR by the manager which will sacrifice an out to avoid the non productive out in many cases, as far as I know. So there's a bit of real world bias to that perception of it not being a factor for fast running (1-XX) teams.

OTOH, a basher team, one wants lots of OBA and HR...but a ground ball that removes a runner is still not a good thing. For me, I'd rather have Ks in that scenario most times. So as long as it's balanced.

The "average" for either an early era or standard card I think is 20 on a side, so it is all relative. If a few guys have more than 20 gbAs and a bunch of force outs, it may get my attention to rethink the lineup in many cases, regardless of team type.