re: Breaking down Skenes' strikeout numbers - Updated thru the Georgia game

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The national strikeout record in a season nationally is 234.

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how many innings was this done in?

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With the easier portion of our SEC schedule in front of us I expect PSs numbers to improve.

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State, Bama, & GA are three of the Top 6 SEC hitting teams

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State, Bama, & GA are three of the Top 6 SEC hitting teams

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They are 8th, 9th and 11th in conference games in runs scored. 4 of the 6 conference opponents faced so far are ranked higher and Tennessee is right there with Bama and State.

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The thread is about strike outs. State, Bama, and GA are Top 6 in batting average and fewest strike outs.

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They are the 3 lowest in Ks other than LSU, so that is true. BA isn’t a particularly relevant stat either in judging their overall offensive capabilities or strikeout rate.

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I did not downvote this OP however why chase a record that was from a different era and a totally a different conference. If chasing this record put Skenes in a possible overuse injury, then not worth the chase.

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You do realize the record we are talking about was in 1989, right? And not a different conference. In fact, it's an LSU record. And I assure you Skene's is not being overused. He has pitched 7 innings only twice and is averaging less than 100 pitches a game. McDonald pitched way more innings in 89.

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Best to leave pitchers alone and not put crap in their heads.

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It's not like I called Skenes up to give him this news. I put it on an LSU message board as a topic for discussion. I doubt Skenes will read this. And if he does, I'm quite sure this won't be news to him.

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Missing a key number. How many innings per game going forward to do this? Math posts need sound math.

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The number of innings is irrelevant. The record calls for a minimum of 50 innings. He has already surpassed that. He could hang it up for the season right now and the record is his. The key factor in this is the number of strikeouts, obviously. He could keep pitching 6 innings per game, increase to 7, or even drop to 5, as long as he averages just under 2 Ks per inning, the record is his.

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McDonald pitched way more innings in 89.

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I agree with you that Skenes isn’t being overworked and your 17.02 K/9 calc seems to assume he’ll only average 6 IP per game the rest of the way so you’re clearly not suggesting they do so to pursue the record. That said, McDonald is a clear example of what not to do. He clearly broke down at the end of the year and saw his ERA balloon from 1.44 to 3.44. Skip didn’t really have other options, but LSU should be able to achieve their goals this year without doing the same to Skenes. Your numbers show it’s possible to get the record AND not wear Skenes down.

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how many innings was this done in?

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174.1

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I agree that averaging 11 K per game doesn’t lead to breaking the K/9 record if he throws 7 innings per game. The 17.02 K/9 he quoted is actually where Skenes would be at year end if he averages 11 Ks and 6 IP. It’s not his current K/9 . That’s 17.44. I’m not sure if the OP meant to include that detail or not, but I agree it is necessary to this discussion.

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Yes, all of this is 100% what I meant. I apologize for not being more clear.

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If he goes deeper into games as the season winds down and post season starts he will absolutely break the record.

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It’s going to be tough though. Him being a strikeout pitcher he obviously just naturally uses a lot of pitches to get through innings. It doesn’t help that the opponents #1 strategy against him is “make Skenes throw as many pitches as possible so we get him out of the game asap”. He already goes over 100 pitches every start.