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Schmidt was short to the ball. Why 180 strikeouts in a low-K era?
He accelerated the bat through the ball, increased acceleration as much as possible. Bench, Sexson, Catricala do the same.
Schmidt could have pepper-swung and traded HR's for K's. Hitters can swing flatly and lifelessly, without acceleration, to make contact if they choose.
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A baseball performance has a lot of moving parts - pitch recog, swing, size, swing shape, degree of acceleration, yada yada yada. Not as simple as "longer swing = more K's." :- )