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I started my freshman year at Indiana University by taking pictures of the Hoosier baseball team, led by Kyle Schwarber and company. He was known to hit many home runs for the Hoosiers, and he carried his team to the 2012 College World Series. Then, after his junior year he entered the 2014 MLB Draft and was selected 4th overall by the Chicago Cubs. It was not long before he worked his way through the farm system and found a spot in the Cubs starting line-up.

Schwarber instantly made an impact in the line-up for the Cubs. Throughout his 2015 rookie season, Schwarber hit 16 home runs in only 69 games. Although his home runs were impressive, I also noticed he tended to strike out too much. So, because he played catcher through college and wants to play the same position in the Majors, I wanted to compare how much he struck out compared to other notable catchers in their rookie seasons. With simple math, strike-outs divided by plate appearances, I was able to find his strike-out rate, along with many other players’.

I wanted to keep in mind the increasing ability for pitchers to strikeout batters (the average strike-out rate has risen over 10 percent in the Live Ball Era). But after finding out Schwarber’s strike-out rate was 8 percentage points higher than the 2015 average, I figured it was something to look into more.