How much does a batter hurt his team when he strikes out?
For a while now, sabermetricians have been saying "Not much" or "Not at all." Putting the ball in play means less now than in the days when errors were commonplace (and less in MLB than, say, Little League). If you strike out with men on base, at least you won't hit into a double play. And study after study after study has shown that strikeouts, when isolated and compared with other outs, have a negligible impact on how many runs a team scores.
