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Highest Whiff Rate in MLB 2025
Source MLB StatcastSeason 2025 (archive)515 qualified pitchers
Fernando Cruz led MLB in whiff rate in 2025 at 46.5%. The top three were Fernando Cruz, Brendon Little, Edwin Díaz, from Statcast data.
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Chase Cruz's strikeouts
Fernando Cruz led 2025. Play a half-inning in our Statcast-driven sim with today's leaders: the same kind of numbers drive every card's rating.
What whiff rate measures
Whiff rate is the percentage of swings that a pitcher generates without contact (swinging strikes divided by total swings, not total pitches). It isolates a pitcher's pure "miss-bats" ability independent of whether hitters chase out of the zone. League average hovers around 24-25%; elite swing-and-miss pitchers clear 30%, and the unicorns exceed 35%. Pitchers need at least 100 batters faced.
Why whiff rate matters
Whiff rate is highly predictive of strikeout rate and tends to stabilize early in a season. Pitchers with elite whiff rates but modest strikeout totals are often called-ball-dependent arms about to break out once command catches up to their stuff.
This archive captures the 2025 season as it ended; for the live, nightly-updated leaderboard see Highest Whiff Rate in MLB.
Questions
Who led MLB in whiff rate in 2025?
Fernando Cruz led MLB in whiff rate in 2025 at 46.5%. The top three were Fernando Cruz, Brendon Little, Edwin Díaz, based on Statcast data.
What is whiff rate in baseball?
Whiff rate is the percentage of swings that a pitcher generates without contact (swinging strikes divided by total swings, not total pitches). It isolates a pitcher's pure "miss-bats" ability independent of whether hitters chase out of the zone. League average hovers around 24-25%; elite swing-and-miss pitchers clear 30%, and the unicorns exceed 35%. Pitchers need at least 100 batters faced.