\u201cWhen I set the record, it was embarrassing,\u201d he told The Athletic earlier this month. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to talk to reporters about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The record of 223 strikeouts he set that season still stands. Players have come close to surpassing Reynolds. Eight have gotten within 10 Ks since that fateful season. One player, Adam Dunn, got within one. Two players got within two. No one, however, has topped Reynolds, who retired in 2019 and now champions the mark as his baseball legacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a badge of honor, man,\u201d Reynolds \u201cI\u2019ve got a big-league record.\u201d<\/p>\n
What changed?<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, I\u2019m older. Have perspective. People ask me, \u2018Do you want someone to break it?\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018No. How many big-league records do you have?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Reynolds\u2019 record is once again relevant because his small slice of this sport\u2019s history is at grave risk: Four players are roughly on pace to surpass him.<\/p>\n
Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber leads the group, with 135 in just 88 games. Three others \u2014 Angels shortstop Zach Neto (128), A\u2019s first baseman Nick Kurtz (128), and Nationals right fielder James Wood (126) all have a shot at eclipsing 223.<\/p>\n
But the perception of the strikeout is not the same today as it was in Reynolds\u2019 time. Strikeouts are far, far more common across baseball, and hitters have come to see them as the cost of doing business in an era where pitchers throw harder and spin the ball more than ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not anxious about it. I mean, it is what it is,\u201d Schwarber said of the record. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of other good things that I\u2019ve done. I hate the perception of, \u2018You sell out for this, you sell out for that.\u2019 That\u2019s just like the farthest thing from the truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hitters at the end of the day. And we want to be good professional hitters. Average is just as important as homers. And RBIs are just as important as any other stat too, right?\u201d<\/p>\n
The irony, as Schwarber suggests, is that this race to this unenviable crown is being waged by very productive hitters. Three of the four were named to the All-Star Game. And Neto, the lone non-All-Star, has a 119 OPS+, 39 extra-base hits and 2.5 bWAR this year.<\/p>\n
This was true in Reynolds\u2019 time as well. His 2009 season wasn\u2019t just a record-breaking strikeout campaign \u2014 it was also the best season of his 13-year career. He hit 44 homers, posted an .892 OPS and earned his only MVP votes.<\/p>\n
After all, no one gets the chance to strike out that much without doing well in the other plate appearances.<\/p>\n
Wood even said he came across an Instagram post that showed the strikeout leader for every position. Seeing the names, he concluded, the lineup would be World Series caliber.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the guys who are doing the most damage get pitched to a lot more carefully, they get less pitches to hit,\u201d Wood said. \u201cThere\u2019s two sides to it. There\u2019s how the pitchers are pitching guys, where you\u2019ve got to be really disciplined and not chasing. (And) also just trying to do damage. You obviously sacrifice a little bit of contact trying for more damage.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2271850794-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n James Wood sees the reasons behind all the strikeouts. (Greg Fiume \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
In 1975, the league strikeout rate was 12.9 percent, and it gradually climbed nearly every year. By 1995, it was 16.2 percent. In Reynolds\u2019 record season, it was 18 percent, and it sits around 22.1 percent today. A combination of increased velocity and movement, a prioritization on hitting home runs and hitting for power, and more pitching data available are all contributing factors to the marked rise in Ks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe balls are starting to move way more than they used to. It\u2019s tough,\u201d Neto said. \u201cPitchers know how to throw a strike-to-ball pitch, or ball-to-strike pitch. It\u2019s just tough. This league\u2019s tough.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t pay attention to those numbers, because they\u2019re gonna happen,\u201d Neto said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of how you bounce back after that. I don\u2019t want to let it be a snowball effect.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neto would be on pace to strike out 233 times this season, if he played 162 games, which he won\u2019t. He\u2019s already missed three games, meaning his candidacy for the record will come down to the wire. Same goes for Wood, who is on pace for 219 after cutting down on his strikeouts in the past few games; his bid for history came up short last season, when he finished with 221 Ks, the third-most ever. Kurtz is on a 230-K pace.<\/p>\n
Schwarber, however, sits first on the leaderboard. More than halfway through this season, he is on pace for 249 strikeouts over 162 games. If anyone is going to take the crown, at least as of now, it\u2019s him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a double-edged sword. It really is. It\u2019s frustrating. And it\u2019s funny,\u201d Schwarber said. \u201c(My teammates) always talk about it. We always joke (after a strikeout). They go, \u2018What are you mad about?\u2019 I want to be better. I don\u2019t like striking out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe game\u2019s changed so much even from when I came into the big leagues in 2015. It was easier to touch the ball, you know? It was easier to not strike out as much.\u201d<\/p>\n
The history of this record reflects the evolution of overall strikeout tendencies, with multiple players holding the record for decades.<\/p>\n
Four players have held the strikeout record for longer than Reynolds. Sam Wise\u2019s 104 strikeouts for the 1884 Boston Beaneaters hung around for 20 years. Jake Stahl struck out 128 times in 1910, a record which stood for 28 years, before Vince DiMaggio K\u2019d 134 times, which was the record for 18 years.<\/p>\n
Bobby Bonds was the strikeout king for 34 years, striking out 189 times in 1970; seven players had at least that many in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cVince (DiMaggio) is the only player I know who could strike out three times in one game and not be embarrassed,\u201d said Casey Stengel, who managed DiMaggio during that whiff-filled 1938 season with the Boston Bees. \u201cHe\u2019d walk into the clubhouse whistling. Everybody would be feeling sorry for him, but Vince always thought he was doing good.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-103752872-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n During his playing days, Mark Reynolds hated talking about his strikeouts. He looks at them differently now. (Christian Petersen \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
DiMaggio\u2019s easy embrace of his Ks was more of an acquired skill for Reynolds, who needed the passage of time to come to terms with his record. But he understands that it may not be his for much longer \u2014 it will fall this season, or maybe next, or the year after that. The game, he conceded, has evolved to be more accepting of players with his offensive profile.<\/p>\n
He wishes he was more of a complete hitter, of course. Perhaps a better eye or penchant for contact would have turned Reynolds, who hit 298 MLB homers, into a perennial All-Star.<\/p>\n
But now, with only time to reflect, he\u2019s at peace with the ballplayer he was, and would welcome celebrating another just like him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I should take my strikeout award and give it to (the new record holder) on \u2018SportsCenter\u2019,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cIt\u2019s eventually gonna happen at some point.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as of right now, today, I\u2019m still the strikeout king.\u201d<\/p>\n
With contributions from The Athletic\u2019s Matt Gelb, Spencer Nusbaum and Daniel Brown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anger and frustration seemed to emanate from Mark Reynolds every time he was asked about his prodigious strikeout…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[5654,64,63,5262,591,2365,85,5264],"class_list":["post-786848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-athletics","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-mlb","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-sports","tag-washington-nationals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}