Today's word is: Strikeouts

What it means: There were many, many reasons the Thunder's season took a sharp, late spike, not the least of which involved an alarming propensity to strike out. 

 

- Cody Johnson whiffed 138 times in just 74 games. 

- Melky Mesa missed 37 games and still fanned 129 times. 

- Brad Suttle missed 56 games and racked up 108 Ks.

- Rob Lyerly fanned 93 times in a scant 68 games

In all, Thunder hitters struck out 1,195 times, 27 more than Binghamton, the league's second worst. Of players with 200 or more plate appearances, the Thunder had four of the seven worst. Johnson struck out 43 percent of the time, Lyerly 32 percent, Mesa 29.8 percent and Suttle 28.7 percent of the time. 

As a result of all the whiffing, the Thunder had the league's fourth-worst OBP (.325), its fifth-worst slugging percentage (.380) and its fourth-worst OPS (.705). And, in the end, it was a major reason why they failed to reach the playoffs after a scorching first four months.