Padres' Unique Philosophy About Striking Out Seems to Be Paying Off in a Big Way

'We don't talk about striking out,' says the hitting coach of a team that strikes out very little.

May 15, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres left fielder Jurickson Profar (10) connects on a hit against the Colorado Rockies. | Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports

Even before they traded for Luis Arraez, arguably the best pure contact hitter in baseball, the San Diego Padres were conspicuously improving in a key hitting category: putting the ball in play.

Entering Friday's game against the Atlanta Braves, the Padres are striking out less often than all but three major league teams. Contrast that with 2023, when the team was striking out at a 21.2 percent rate, and the Padres' propensity for putting the ball in play becomes even more noticeable.

Teams change personnel every year, which can fuel these kinds of incremental differences. But the biggest difference behind the Padres' improvement in this category might not be a player, but rather a coach.

First-year hitting coach Victor Rodriguez explained his philosophy about striking out in a recent interview with the San Diego Union-Tribune.

“We don’t talk about striking out,” Rodriguez said. “When you’re not afraid to strike out, you get comfortable. When you’re afraid to strike out, you force yourself, you put pressure on yourself, you get tense. Your natural swing is not there.”

It's somewhat counterintuitive for a player or team to improve at the thing they're not focused on. But as long as Rodriguez's philosophy is paying dividends, why change it? Not only are the Padres striking out less, they're walking at a league-best 10.6 percent clip — even after trading prodigious walker Juan Soto to the New York Yankees last December.

Through Thursday, the Padres have scored 752 runs, 13th in MLB.