On a conceptual level, the K lacks aethetics from the hitter's standpoint, which can make it seem more negative. I like to look at the K as being the "neutral" out, in that it's an out and nothing more. (all outs have a negative factor to them - the K starts from this baseline)
From that standpoint, the DP then becomes the clear "negative" out - it always results in two outs, and always either ends an inning or wipes a runner off base. Other ball-in-play outs become "situationally positive" - giving a chance to add some value.
Using the K as a baseline for the out seems makes more conceptual sense to me. In that sense, Mantle had 71% "potentially positive" outs (outs minus K), and about 1.9% "negative". In comparisson Dimaggio had 92% "potentially positive" outs and about 3.7% "negative". It's a different way of framing the same data, but it seems a truer conceptual image.
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