FantasyPros has put together a glossary of sabermetrics statistics for readers to reference. Deeper statistical analysis is being used by fantasy players more and more in daily and season-long leagues. We’re providing the glossary so that you can easily reference what the stats we use in our articles refer to and how they should be used for fantasy baseball purposes. Below we’ll take a look at K/9.
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Strikeouts per nine (K/9) is a very simple statistic. It is the amount of strikeouts divided by the number of innings pitched. Many looked at strikeouts in their raw form and decided who was a power pitcher, most traditionally those that struck out 200 or more batters. With the advent of specialists and pitchers averaging six innings per start, strikeouts per nine have shown what pithers make the most of their outing. Those pitchers with 10 or more strikeouts per nine innings are deemed as excellent power pitchers, while the average pitcher has about seven strikeouts per nine innings.
Strikeouts per nine have mostly replaced strikeouts in non-5×5 leagues since commissioners have realized that the evolution in manager’s philosophy has made relievers more important. Each of the top 11, and 21 of the top 25, single-season strikeout per nine campaigns have been since 1995. An important statistic to note is that most leagues have a minimum for innings pitched, so while it is good to load up on those pitchers that strike out a lot of batters per inning, it is still important to reach your weekly inning limits. Mike Fiers leads all MLB starters with 13.26 striekouts per nine innings this season. Reds closer Aroldis Chapman is the career leader in strikeouts per nine, for those pitchers with 150 or more innings pitched, with 15.35. The active leader for strikeouts per nine for starting pitchers is Max Scherzer at 9.6, and Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum, and Francisco Liriano all have averaged at least one strikeout per inning for their career (9.0 strikeouts per nine or better).
Chris Zolli is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from Chris, check out his archive and follow him @thezman2010.
