Anger and frustration seemed to emanate from Mark Reynolds every time he was asked about his prodigious strikeout total during the 2009 season. He’d already set the MLB record a year prior with 204 strikeouts, and when he shattered it easily once again, questions proliferated.“I don’t care,” he said that September. He blew off any inquiries about it — which, today, he chalks up to a sense of shame at all those Ks.“When I set the record, it was embarrassing,” he told The Athletic earlier this month. “I didn’t want to talk to reporters about it.”The record of 223 strikeouts he set that season still stands. Players have come close to surpassing Reynolds. Eight have gotten within 10 Ks since that fateful season. One player, Adam Dunn, got within one. Two players got within two. No one, however, has topped Reynolds, who retired in 2019 and now champions the mark as his baseball legacy.“That’s a badge of honor, man,” Reynolds “I’ve got a big-league record.”What changed?“Now, I’m older. Have perspective. People ask me, ‘Do you want someone to break it?’ I’m like, ‘No. How many big-league records do you have?’”Reynolds’ record is once again relevant because his small slice of this sport’s history is at grave risk: Four players are roughly on pace to surpass him.Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber leads the group, with 135 in just 88 games. Three others — Angels shortstop Zach Neto (128), A’s first baseman Nick Kurtz (128), and Nationals right fielder James Wood (126) all have a shot at eclipsing 223.But the perception of the strikeout is not the same today as it was in Reynolds’ time. Strikeouts are far, far more common across baseball, and hitters have come to see them as the cost of doing business in an era where pitchers throw harder and spin the ball more than ever.“I’m not anxious about it. I mean, it is what it is,” Schwarber said of the record. “There’s a lot of other good things that I’ve done. I hate the perception of, ‘You sell out for this, you sell out for that.’ That’s just like the farthest thing from the truth.“We’re hitters at the end of the day. And we want to be good professional hitters. Average is just as important as homers. And RBIs are just as important as any other stat too, right?”The irony, as Schwarber suggests, is that this race to this unenviable crown is being waged by very productive hitters. Three of the four were named to the All-Star Game. And Neto, the lone non-All-Star, has a 119 OPS+, 39 extra-base hits and 2.5 bWAR this year.