Didn't they weirdly have that stick out last year (and not just in the "well, we get a ton of guys on base so we leave a ton of guys on base"-way), too? Or was that 2015? It was 2015(recall the hand wringing about high K guys against the power pitchers/Mets), and they were much better in 2016, the Verducci book talks about how they had an increased emphasis on 'B-hacking', a shorter swing with 2 strikes that cut out some K's and made them less prone to killed rallies. Hard to say if they lost that emphasis, it's statistical noise(even 60 games isn't a ton for this stuff to even out), or if pitchers have a new/better way of attacking some of those hitters.