A.J. Pierzynski: MLB needs to 'make strikeouts matter'
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00:00Strikeouts don't matter because the analytics people say they don't matter and they're actually,
00:04they're actually, you know, if you talk to some analytics people, they'll say like,
00:06oh, if you strike out, it actually helps you more than hitting into a, you know, a ground ball
00:12or, you know, flying out. They're like, oh, well, you know, strikeout, well, at least you got,
00:16you know, pitch count up and you fouled off a couple and you, instead of like, you know,
00:19hitting a line drive your first, first or second pitch, you know, you struck out,
00:23at least it took three pitches. So it's more valuable. If you want offense to go up,
00:26make strikeouts matter again. And that way it puts emphasis on putting the ball in play,
00:30puts emphasis on, you know, hitting and running, bunting, things like that. And the offense will
00:34go up because there'll be more guys on base, more guys focused on contact. Right now it's like
00:38everyone goes up there, even little guys are like, oh, if I hit 20 homers, I'm going to get paid,
00:42but you get paid on your power and you get paid on walking and power. So if you take strike three
00:46right down the middle, you know, it's three, two count. They're like, oh, well, at least you got
00:49six pitches instead of, you know, if I put it in place, something good might happen. Hey, maybe
00:53the infielder boots it, or, you know, it goes through a hole. And then we have a guy on base
00:56and you got to make strikeouts that are, and I don't know if they ever will again.
01:00Well, right. That's the obvious followup, right? What a great answer though. What a great direct
01:04answer because all the different rules that get changed and then what you could do in the future,
01:08like we've been talking about, you know, tightening and regulating the strike zone,
01:14but as long as the strikeout is okay and it's strikeout or Homer and everybody's,
01:18most people are fine with that. So, so would you do a rule that in that D incentivizes
01:24strikeouts? That would be a fascinating thing. If like you strike out 120 times in a year,
01:30you, your salary goes down, like some, something crazy like that to, to, to incentivize it. AJ
01:37might be an interesting thought. It would be, but it'll never happen because,
01:41right. You know, listen, and I, and I'm, I'm never, I like, I like home runs and I like,
01:46you know, fat flips. And I like emotion and I'm not the old, I don't want people to do the old
01:51guy. I'm not, I love emotion. I love celebrating and I love all that stuff. It's not going to
01:58change because people get paid off hitting home runs. You get paid off power. So until that
02:05changes and you incentivize a release arise or somebody like that, they can hit three 50, like,
02:10so we survived and hit three 51 batting titles. And he's going to go to arbitration and be like,
02:14yeah, we only hit seven home runs.