High strikeout rate hampering Brewers’ offense

MILWAUKEE — Chris Carter is the Brewers’ single-season strikeout king (191) with a dozen games to go, and his new team is on pace to break his old team’s all-time record for whiffs in a season.

The Brewers have struck out 1,429 times in 2016, already the seventh-highest total all-time. They’re on pace for 1,543 strikeouts, which would break the record set by Carter, Jonathan Villar, Jake Elmore and the 2013 Houston Astros. They struck out 1,535 times.

How much do strikeouts matter? To the 2016 Brewers, it appears they matter significantly.

“I’m actually surprised at hearing about us being close to the record,” said hitting coach Darnell Coles. “We have a team that swings and misses a little more than we should, but my biggest concern is with runners in scoring position with less than two outs, not being able to put a ball in play. That’s where it becomes problematic.

“We work on these things systematically in batting practice every day. The accountability falls squarely on me. I don’t shy away from it. I think there are some things that we, as a core group, need to clean up to allow our offense to be more potent day in and day out.”

Beyond the raw count, a dive into the strikeout numbers reveals the good and bad of the Brewers’ 2016 offense.

Besides the addition this season of strikeout-prone hitters like Carter and Villar (who is fifth in the Majors with 164 strikeouts despite ranking 25th of …

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