Cedar Rapids Kernels seek to lessen their strikeout totals

Cedar Rapids — During the last homestand for the Cedar Rapids Kernels, which was a week ago, Rubel Cespedes was asked to discuss the white-hot start he had gotten off to offensively.

The infielder talked about feeling comfortable at the plate, that he wanted to match what he did last season, as far as leading the league in which he was playing in runs batted in.

“I’m trying to make contact, put the ball in play,” he said, through translator Jairo Rodriguez, C.R.’s hitting and development coach. “Just trying to make hard contact. I especially want to lessen the strikeouts this year.”

Cespedes struck out 101 times last season for low-Class A Fort Myers. He has 11 in his first 13 high-A Midwest League games this season, with 48 official at-bats.

If you play it out with the numbers moving forward, assuming he gets as many plate appearances as he did last season, Cespedes is on pace to K less than last season, less than 100 times. That’d be good, especially if he continues doing the damage he has done early.

And it would fit with what apparently is a bigger emphasis this season in the Minnesota Twins farm system.

Yes, continuing to hunt fastballs still is great. Driving the baseball, hitting the ball in the air, seeking home runs and extra-base hits still is the way to try and go about things.

Extra-base hits require fewer hits overall to score runs. Statistically it’s easier to score that way than trying to piece together three-hit (or more) innings.

That’s Sabermetrics 101.

But according to Kernels Manager Brian Dinkelman, taking three mighty hacks in an at-bat in an attempt to get a homer or extra-base hit and simply accepting a strikeout if you fail to do that isn’t necessarily the best policy.

“I think there’s been more emphasis in the organization about trying to (improve) our two-strike approach, getting a few more balls in play,” Dinkelman said. “Strikeouts are still going to happen, but if we can reduce the number a little bit, it gives you more opportunity to do some damage.”

Dinkelman talked specifically about Cespedes.

“So far he has done a good job of putting the ball in play,” the manager said. “A couple of his hits the other night were with two strikes. That’s good.”

It’s interesting to track what the Kernels have done offensively two-plus weeks into their season.

They are fifth in batting average at .234, third in slugging percentage at .386, sixth in OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging) at .697.

They are last in the 12-team MWL in walks drawn with 45. But they’re second in fewest strikeouts at 110, just one behind league-leading Wisconsin.

For context, Cedar Rapids had the second-most whiffs last season with 1,275. They were first in OPS at .738.

In 2021, the Kernels finished with 1,366 strikeouts, ranking 10th in the Midwest League. They also were 10th in what was then called the High-A Central league in 2021, and 14th out of 16 teams in fewest Ks in 2019.

Of course, every team is different. The makeup of players and their abilities are different.

But this very early, very small sample size in 2024 is kind of interesting.

“A strikeout is the worst possible outcome because nothing can happen,” Dinkelman said. “I think there’s a balance there between putting the ball in play with no damage and also over swinging and things like that. Trying to do too much. If you can find that balance, find the right times to do the damage and other times where it’s ‘I need to put the ball in play,’ hopefully you can have success on offense.”

The Kernels have a 13-game, two-week homestand on tap, starting with seven games this week against Beloit. The first of those seven is Tuesday night at 6:35, with the first 1,000 fans through the gates receiving a free replica Kernels Midwest League Championship ring.

Cedar Rapids lost four of six games last week at Wisconsin and has a 6-8 record.

Comments: jeff.johnson@thegazette.com