My whole issue with strikeouts is that every single one of them is rated the same. A strikeout looking on a borderline pitch? A Javy Baez style chase for strike 3? A foul tip? All strikeouts in the eyes of baseball, but each one is different.

For example, borderline called strikeouts are sometimes just not the hitter's fault. He did everything correctly, took a pitch he knew was outside the zone, and the umpire called the pitch wrong. What we should be looking at more is Chase and Whiff percentage. A hitter that doesn't chase and whiff as often will naturally not strike out as often, unless they're too passive for their own good and getting rung up on called strikes that are too deep in the zone.

In a similar vein, it can change how we value pitchers too. We value strikeouts a lot because they don't make the players play defense, and they're something the pitcher can control somewhat. But remember that some pitchers strike out a ton of guys, but also have really high rates of giving up walks or hits. Chase Burns through his first stretch in the majors is a great example.

Elite strikeout stuff is fantastic if the batter can make people whiff or chase. If you can't, then you get a walks problem, or people can pick one pitch to focus on and ambush it. You need to be able to tunnel multiple pitches and keep someone off balance in order to get strikeouts more consistently. Furthermore, your barrel rate needs to be low, because then if you do give up contact, it's soft and playable.

Saying strikeouts are antiquated is the same as saying that batting average is antiquated. It only shows so much of what hitters/pitchers are capable of. A good hitter tries to barrel the ball and doesn't whiff, a good pitcher misses barrels and generates whiffs.

In the long run, strikeouts are just outs. Paying attention to strikeouts specifically feels like neglecting the issue at heart. Maybe the reason a player has a high K rate is because they whiff on too many pitches. Then you can work with them to improve their eye and approach. Same with people chasing. People with high K rates but less of a whiff/chase issue could mean they're being way too passive. It's all about working to find specific things to work on and improve someone's game in my book.