Pat Burrell: Three True Outcome Hitter

Not a great defender but at least he excels at something

Pat Burrell is the Giants big time slugger and like many of the big time sluggers before him, Burrell is what is known as a three true outcome hitter. Here is a quick rundown from the three true outcome manifesto:

What are the Three True Outcomes, you ask? They are:

• The Home Run, the weapon with which we fight the evil legions of Little Ball.
• The Strikeout, a symbol of our refusal to compromise.
• The Base on Balls, which brings balance to our cause.

In a nutshell, most of his at-bats will end in a home run, a walk, or a strikeout. These are considered true outcomes because for the most part, the ball is not put in a place where it's dependent upon the fielders for a result of the play.

So far this short season, Burrell has taken his usual pace to a new level. For his career, he is a 43% Three True Outcome (TTO) hitter and this year, he's well above that with a mark of 54%. It's still a far cry from the record mark Rob Deer set in 1996 with a TTO of 75% in 50 at-bats.

He;s off to an excellent start with four home runs (among his six hits), with five walks and nine strikeouts in 33 plate appearances. It will be exciting to see if he can keep this pace up all season long.

---

Become a fan on Facebook and follow The Crazy Crabbers on Twitter. There is lots of good stuff going on there.