ANAHEIM — Ray Montgomery is old enough to remember when striking out was a bad thing.
“It was literally like you were stoned and scorned,” said the Angels’ interim manager, who played in the majors from 1996 to 1998. “It would have been grounds for, like, ‘You’re not going to get called to the big leagues if you keep doing this.’”
The baseball world is different now. It’s a bit of exaggeration to suggest that striking out is no longer “bad,” but it’s more tolerable.
Many teams accept strikeouts as a reasonable price to pay to get more home runs.
Which brings us to the Angels, who have the most strikeouts and the fourth most homers in the majors.
The Angels have 1,571 strikeouts this season, which is tied for the 11th most in baseball history. They are 83 strikeouts from the major leag