Picture this: A kid named Karl Kolseth swings and strikes out in a little league game. He walks back to the dugout, his little 28 in. bat on his shoulder, and what do his teammates yell?

“Hey K! Hey everyone it’s K! K just K’d! K for K!”

Or something to that effect.

Well, according to a recent study in Psychological Science magazine, Karl did exactly what he’s more likely do to than his friends named, say, Dan Peterson, who strikes out less but hits into a ton of double plays or, poor little Ernest, who’s got a lead glove over at second.

The study, which was carried out by researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Yale University, hypothesized that people consciously or unconsciously pursue name-resembling outcomes. As part of their study the researchers analyzed the performance of Major League Baseball players from 1913 (which is the first year that complete data on strikeouts was made available) through 2006.

The study found that over 90 years of data, batters whose names began with K struck out in 18.8% of their plate appearances. The rest K’d in 17.2% of theirs. That’s a big difference when you consider this is over 90 years of data.

When the researchers controlled for average year of play, “K was both the first and last initial associated with the highest strikeout rates.”

Really?! So you mean to tell me there’s more going on in these guys heads than “see-pitch-swing-pitch”? I’d recently been led to believe batters were automatons just going through the motions without any regard to their emotional impulse.

Could this mean that some players actually react differently when they come to the plate with a runner on second with two outs in the bottom of the ninth? That some players are clutch while others aren’t? Or even…I shudder to say…that some players possess…something we might translate as grit?

For shame!

(HT Breaking Balls)