FanShot

David Wright has a 25% whiff rate

25

This has been getting worse since 2007. I checked to see this when it became evident that he's not fouling pitches off or putting them in play as much as he used to, and is becoming an automatic K with 2 strikes. (K% after 2 strikes at 68%; overall K% around 33%). In fact, having re-energized his swing to put up some more power seems to have had the expected effect on his whiff rates and K rates, except that it's gone from a wussy swing with very high whiff rates to a strong swing with extremely high whiff rates. The sample size is becoming large enough (K rates and contact % stabilize early) so that if this continues we will soon have ample justification to say that his career is on an early decline phase. No panicking yet. Just something to keep an eye on.