strikeouts are up, fewer balls are put into play, nobody ever reached 200 strikeouts until the last few years and now its the chic thing to do
Mark Reynolds is making Rob Deer look like Tony Gwynn and Reynolds isn't the only one failing to put the ball into play, Adam Dunn, Ryan Howard, and many more are going down on strikes. It could be a shift in hitting philosophies or changes to the strikezone, but fewer balls in play could be a contributing factor to increased likelihood of no-hitters and perfect games. Not every no-no had 10+ Ks in it, but in Cain's perfect game he had 14. The fact that the Rays seem to be on the wrong end of these pretty often could lend some weight to the hitting philosophy theory, maybe they have a tendency to be a sink or swim kind of team offensively.