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One of my most favorite baseball quirks is the strikeout on a pitch that hits the batter. On Monday night, we were treated to two such strikeouts. Brandon Phillips of the Reds and Erick Aybar of the Angels did the honors:
In case you're unfamiliar with the rule, the swing supersedes the hit-by-pitch. If you offer at a pitch that hits you, it's a strike no matter what. The call on Phillips was questionable -- it looked like he may have checked his swing in time. Aybar definitely went around though.
Phillips ranks tenth (38.5 percent) and Aybar ranks 27th (35.0 percent) out of 151 qualified batters in swing rate on pitches out of the zone. That's how you wind up striking out and getting plunked on the same pitch.
