Ron Darling once told the story of a comment Kris Bryant made during a pre-game press conference prior to his very first game at Wrigley Field back in 2015: “My goal every game is to go out there and hit the ball in the air four times.”

Not a single coach I had, and I had some pretty good ones over the years, ever said to me, “Hey Alan, try to hit the ball in the air.” Line drives were the ultimate goal. But with my speed, especially when I was hitting from the left side of the plate, I was just trying to put the bat on the ball and get it on the ground and through the holes.

As Darling said in a follow up to the quote of Bryant, the game has since changed. But has it been for the better?

Launch angles…exit velocity…linear weights…I grew up associating those terms with a NASA spacecraft launch. Hitting a baseball? It was simple…see the ball, hit the ball; put the bat on the ball; level swing. Throw “simple” out the window.

The thought process of “Take two and hit to right…” is a lost art. It is rare that a hitter goes up to the plate and actually takes a level swing and hits the ball where it is pitched; that a player goes up with the actual intent to hit the ball to the opposite field.

Everyone is so “pull happy” trying to jerk the ball out of the park on every swing. Which leads to the elimination of what was designed to be a baseball alignment and led to “the shift.”

I know, I know, the new rules in baseball eliminate the shift. But did they really? Sure they eliminated what was an “exaggerated” shift…like putting the second baseman in the outfield or having the middle infielder play on the other side of the second base bag. But that doesn’t stop, nor should it stop, fielders from playing where they believe a hitter will likely hit the ball.

Regardless…any “shift” leaves wide open holes. So why not just smack one toward one of those holes? Hit ‘em where they ain’t. That don’t work anymore? Wouldn’t that concept eliminate the ability to employ the shift?

And forget about laying down a bunt because players simply don’t know how to do that anymore.

Players would rather suffer the fate of “…hitting it into the shift…” or a strikeout than getting a single through the hole?

How about the good old “…a walk is as good as a hit?” It used to be. In fact, way, way back over a century ago, walks were actually counted as hits. But, apparently, the concept of “getting on base” has become meaningless.

It has become acceptable to strikeout well over 100 times, even over 150 times, while trying to launch home runs into the upper stratosphere. And so we are subjected to games that are, in reality, altered versions of Home Run Derby.

There are superstars in today’s game…guys like Shohei Ohtani, of course, and Aaron Judge, and Juan Soto. But who was one of the most sought after free agents this off season? Kyle Schwarber.

Schwarber was a first round pick of the Chicago Cubs in 2014 and was a catcher. He was built a bit like Dante Bichette and John Kruk, two barrel-chested guys who looked more-suited for a Sunday softball beer league.

But both Bichette and Kruk could hit. Kruk averaged .300 over his MLB career and struck out 100 times just once in 10 seasons…an even 100 strikeouts. Bichette hit .299 over 14 seasons and he, too, struck out 100 times (105) once during the course of a single season.

Let’s take a look at Schwarber over the last four seasons playing for the Philadelphia Phillies.

In 2022 Schwarber hit for a .218 BA, he walked 86 times, while driving in 94 runs. He hit a league-leading 46 HR and struck out a league-leading 200 times.

In 2023, he hit for a .197 BA, he walked 126 times, while driving in 104 runs. He hit 47 HR and again led the league, this time with 215 K’s.

In 2024, he hit for a better average, getting to a .248 BA, with a league-leading 106 walks, while driving in 104 runs. He hit “only” 38 HR and still struck out 197 times.

In 2025, his walk year, he kind of maintained the average hitting for a .240 BA, walking 108 times, and driving in a league-leading 132 runs. He led the league with 56 HR and again struck out 197 times.

His average over the four years was a .226 BA, 47 HR, 108 RBI, 107 BB, 202 K’s. So I would say that depending on HOW you gauge production, Schwarber provided some exceptional offensive stats, especially considering he was used as the leadoff guy in the Phillies lineup.

But from a “traditional” standpoint, in what world is someone who racks up 200 strikeouts per season considered one of the “great” players in the game and deserving of one of the top contracts ever awarded to a professional athlete?

The Mets reportedly were willing to hand Schwarber a HUGE contract while allowing Alonso to walk away. Schwarber is a DH only. Alonso gave adequate play at first base which the Mets would surely appreciate now.

And thinking back a ways, Dave Kingman would have had a statue carved for him if he were playing in today’s world of Major League Baseball.

And what gets me is that it is, in fact, possible to hit for power and not strikeout. It’s been done.

Babe Ruth. Remember him? He hit 714 home runs over a 22-year career. Although the first five years he was mostly a pitcher and so his hitting stats were mostly compiled over 17 seasons. Regardless, he walloped over 700 dingers and somehow, some way, incredibly never struck out 100 times in any season. Ruth actually hit for a .342 career batting average and had an on base percentage of .474! The Babe walked over 700 more times than he struck out during his illustrious career, striking out 12 times every 100 plate appearances.

In another era, a 5-foot, 7-inch Yogi Berra was able to smack 358 home runs. He was considered a “bad ball” hitter…meaning…he could hit anything…especially pitches well out of the strike zone. He swung at anything and everything. And guess what? He never, ever, struck out more than 38 times in any season. Over the course of 19 seasons he struck out a total of 414 times while compiling a .285 batting average and OBP of .348 while hitting those 358 pitches out of the park.  He struck out five (5) times every 100 plate appearances. FIVE!!!

How about Mike Piazza? He made it to the Hall of Fame after clobbering 427 home runs. And you know what? He, too, never struck out 100 times in any season while hitting .308 with an OBP of .377. He “launched” some pretty long balls himself.

The analytics, and the biomechanics, and NASA-related terminology is all well and good. But no matter what you put into a computer, it will never spit out the information that takes into account the human element…what is going through person’s head, how they are feeling on any particular day, or the ability to make on the spot adjustments simply because the wind changed direction.

It’s the ability to use a cylindrical object trying to hit a sphere at just the right point of contact. That’s the scientific (or geometrical) way of stating it. My grandfather told me “See the ball…hit the ball.” I still stand by that.

But I will always take the money that Kyle Schwarber got…God bless him for that…200 strikeouts and all. And David Stearns…keep fiddling with those fucking formulas…how has that been working out for you?