Through just a handful of games the Cleveland Guardians have three of the top six leaders in lowest whiff rate among qualified players. Steven Kwan, Owen Miller, and Jose Ramirez are first, tied for fourth, and sixth respectively according to Sarah Langs.
Whiff rate is a percentage of swings missed by a batter. Ramirez is the least surprising Guardians player on this list with a 9.8% whiff rate. Cleveland’s perennial MVP candidate third baseman being on this list is very much expected.
Kwan and his highly publicized streak of not swinging and missing leads the way at 4.1%. The Guardians rookie also struck out for the first time since September of last season, that includes his time in Triple-A in addition to Spring Training this year.
Miller being tied for fourth is a fantastic sign of improvement from the young infielder. Miller struggled at times last season and his future with the big league club was in question. Making adjustments and developing has mostly solidified his spot in the starting lineup on a regular basis.
Things can change over time and this list is going to shuffle around a lot. For the time being seeing multiples Guardians players being able to prevent high strikeout rates while putting the ball in play is a nice change of pace from the three true outcome style of baseball that is common across the sport.
