Once again, major league baseball players are striking out at previously unseen levels, with 20.5 percent of plate appearances ending in a whiff, which would set a record for the ninth year in a row. And once again, the Minnesota Twins' pitching staff is doing its best to go against that trend.
Twins pitchers currently sit in last place in strikeout percentage; their 14.9 percent whiff rate is a full 1.6 percent behind the No. 29 White Sox. (If you prefer K/9, their 5.85 rate is also in last place, well below the league average of 7.85.) Not that this is new. The Twins had the majors' lowest strikeout percentage rates in 2011, '12 and '13 as well.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Twins' cumulative pitching strikeout percentage dating to 2010 pulls up the rear by a considerable amount: