As strikeout totals have climbed in MLB in recent years, two competing thoughts have come along with them: the notion, often espoused by purists or traditionalists, that strikeouts are bad … and the notion, often espoused by newer thinkers, that strikeouts are a natural by-product of a more efficient, better way of hitting. If you don’t land on either extreme, you’re left to wonder where on the scale strikeouts really land.