A new single season record was set in baseball last night.
Mark Reynolds of the Arizona Diamondbacks struck out for the 206th time this season,
breaking his own record of 204 set last year. In three seasons, Reynolds has piled up an astounding 539 strikeouts.
I can go old school on you here. I can tell you that Stan Musial had 696 strikeouts in 22 years. Or that Joe DiMaggio struck out 369 times in 13 seasons, while hitting 361 homers. Or that Ty Cobb struck out 357 times in his career. Reynolds has struck out 410 times in TWO YEARS!!!
But I’m not even going to go old school on you. Albert Pujols has struck out 567 times in nine years. Reynolds has whiffed 28 fewer times…in SIX FEWER SEASONS. In the time it took Reynolds to strike out 539 times, Albert has struck out 173.
Obviously, Reynolds isn’t alone. After Bobby Bonds set the strikeout record of 189 in 1970, it took 34 years for Adam Dunn to break it with 194. Since 2004, Bonds’ record has been broken seven times, including three times last year. Three players…Reynolds, Dunn and Ryan Howard have all broken the record twice.
410 times over the last two years, Reynolds has had the chance to move runners. To get on base. To avoid an out. To give the opposition a chance to make an error. And, he’s missed that chance completely.
That’s a record nobody should want to hold.