FWIW, some stats about Trout's K's last year.
78 strikeouts came with 0-1 outs, and nobody on base.
60 strikeouts came with 2 outs.
30 strikeouts came with a man on 1st with less than 2 outs. (I'd argue that I'd prefer a K to out(s) in play, if forced to choose)
So out of 184 strikeouts, there are 168 where the strikeout came in a situation where it wasn't "better" to have an out that was in play. This is where you get "strikeouts really don't matter too much."
If you change Trout's approach to avoid strikeouts, you might make him a worse player. He DOES want to make some the strikeouts into hits, which is nice, if it doesn't effect the rest of his game negatively.
EDIT: 2 of the 30 strikeouts with a man on 1st and less than 2 outs also had a man on 3rd. So 166 out of 184, rather than 168 out of 184.
2/27/2015 10:41 AM (edited)