A strikeout is the cleanest out in baseball. No ball is put in play, so no fielder can misplay it, no runner can advance on it, and no park dimension changes it. That is why it sits at the center of every defense-independent pitching measure.

From the batter’s side the same event is a strikeout against him, and it is the least productive way to make an out — a ball in play at least gives a runner a chance to move. High-strikeout hitters can still be excellent if they walk and slug enough, but the outs they make are the emptiest kind.

Pitching NUT is built on FIP, which counts strikeouts, walks, and home runs and ignores everything else. A pitcher who misses bats is being credited for the part of run prevention he genuinely owns, which is why a strikeout-heavy arm behind a bad defense grades better in NUT than in ERA.

What is a good SO?

Strikeouts are the largest positive input to pitching NUT. FIP counts them directly, and a strikeout is the one out a pitcher records with no help from the defense.

Updated live during the season.

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