The Power of the Walk is That it Avoids the Power
Posted: Fri May 22, 2015 10:45 am
I admit I have a bee in my bonnet. A spur under my saddle. A rock in my shoe. A stone in my kidney. Piss in my kool-aid.
All these fit when I hear things about bases on balls.
Bryan Kenny of the MLB Network thinks of the base on balls as a 16 year old boy thinks of a girl's cleavage.
A base on balls is simply a walk. Period.
It is not the Holy Grail.
Some batters, indeed, invite bases on balls. Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan, and in current baseball, Joey Votto and Carlos Santana.
These players knew/know the strike zone as well as umpires. They also have the ability to foul off undesirable pitches.
More than anything thing though, they were/are not afraid to take a walk.
The thinking that a walk is helping their team. In Henderson and Morgan's case, it is correct. Henderson and Morgan could reak havoc on the bases.
Is Votto and Santana helping themselves or their teams by walking?
I don't think so.
There is a power walk and there is the power of the walk.
For pitchers, the power of a walk is used to avoid a player's power. Avoiding four bases for a hitter, much more preferable by giving a hitter one base.
Kenny thinks ANY is doing the right thing by taking a walk. Even avoiding that one good pitch that most hitters receive during an at bat.
That ANY walk is a good walk.
Kenny thinks of OBP as being the top stat in the game.
Is it?
Bryce Harper leads baseball with 37 walks.
In my mind, he is accumulating those walks because pitchers are...
1. Afraid of giving up four bases
2.Trying to find weaknesses.
3. Being more fine with Harper
4. Walking Harper is a better alternative than pitching to him.
5. To Harper's credit, he is not fishing as much.
Sabrs lean on Harper's walks as if this were the reason that Harper is a better hitter this year.
They forget that a base on balls is a two way street.
Clearly, Harper is more dangerous this year than he has ever been.
In real life, as in baseball, we shy away from danger.
It is why Ruth, Williams, and Bonds have the gaudy walk numbers they have.
Each, would tell you that if the pitcher threw the ball over the plate, they would hit it.
Mike Moustakas is hitting .342 and scored 26 runs already this season.
Eight walks.
Pitchers are not fearful of Moustakas. He only has four homers. Moustakas is enjoying hitting a lot of line drives.
He's also enjoying getting the strikes to hit those line drives. Pitchers do not fear line drive hitters. In their minds, they know they can turn those line drives to dribblers or pop ups.
Moustakas' teammate, Sal Perez is also getting a lot of pitches to hit.
He has only walked three times. Almost a low in the Majors this year.
His teammate, Omar Infante has the low with two walks.
Nobody talks about the Royals hitting instead of walking. They don't talk about it because the Royals are winning.
Not walking, clearly, has not hurt their team.
Cleveland, the last place team in Kansas Cit's division has walked 65 times more than the Royals!
Where are the sabrs for that stat?
RotoWorld inferred in a blurb on Addison Russell that he is a better hitter lately because he is taking more walks.
Russell hits ninth!
Most walks to a ninth hitter is because of two things....
1. Wildness in a pitcher.
2. Strategy from a pitcher.
Russell has very little to do with drawing a walk. The power, almost all in the pitchers hands.
This is like lauding Matt Harvey for walking twice in four at bats.
We live in an era of the ERA.
Pitchers are more dominant than hitters.
When this happens, we want to buck up the underdog.
The hitters are the underdogs so we give them credit for walks.
Too much credit.
When/if Harper slumps, his walks will slow. The fear factor diminished, more pitchers will try to get him out instead of avoiding him. Sabrs will point to these less walks as why Harper is slumping. It's a vicious circle.
Walks do not validate a hitter. They do not make him a better hitter.
Walks are a statistic that sabrs, like Bryan Kenny, put far too much credence and trust.
For me... A fly in my soup. A turd in my punch bowl. A Bryan Kenny in my ear.
All these fit when I hear things about bases on balls.
Bryan Kenny of the MLB Network thinks of the base on balls as a 16 year old boy thinks of a girl's cleavage.
A base on balls is simply a walk. Period.
It is not the Holy Grail.
Some batters, indeed, invite bases on balls. Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan, and in current baseball, Joey Votto and Carlos Santana.
These players knew/know the strike zone as well as umpires. They also have the ability to foul off undesirable pitches.
More than anything thing though, they were/are not afraid to take a walk.
The thinking that a walk is helping their team. In Henderson and Morgan's case, it is correct. Henderson and Morgan could reak havoc on the bases.
Is Votto and Santana helping themselves or their teams by walking?
I don't think so.
There is a power walk and there is the power of the walk.
For pitchers, the power of a walk is used to avoid a player's power. Avoiding four bases for a hitter, much more preferable by giving a hitter one base.
Kenny thinks ANY is doing the right thing by taking a walk. Even avoiding that one good pitch that most hitters receive during an at bat.
That ANY walk is a good walk.
Kenny thinks of OBP as being the top stat in the game.
Is it?
Bryce Harper leads baseball with 37 walks.
In my mind, he is accumulating those walks because pitchers are...
1. Afraid of giving up four bases
2.Trying to find weaknesses.
3. Being more fine with Harper
4. Walking Harper is a better alternative than pitching to him.
5. To Harper's credit, he is not fishing as much.
Sabrs lean on Harper's walks as if this were the reason that Harper is a better hitter this year.
They forget that a base on balls is a two way street.
Clearly, Harper is more dangerous this year than he has ever been.
In real life, as in baseball, we shy away from danger.
It is why Ruth, Williams, and Bonds have the gaudy walk numbers they have.
Each, would tell you that if the pitcher threw the ball over the plate, they would hit it.
Mike Moustakas is hitting .342 and scored 26 runs already this season.
Eight walks.
Pitchers are not fearful of Moustakas. He only has four homers. Moustakas is enjoying hitting a lot of line drives.
He's also enjoying getting the strikes to hit those line drives. Pitchers do not fear line drive hitters. In their minds, they know they can turn those line drives to dribblers or pop ups.
Moustakas' teammate, Sal Perez is also getting a lot of pitches to hit.
He has only walked three times. Almost a low in the Majors this year.
His teammate, Omar Infante has the low with two walks.
Nobody talks about the Royals hitting instead of walking. They don't talk about it because the Royals are winning.
Not walking, clearly, has not hurt their team.
Cleveland, the last place team in Kansas Cit's division has walked 65 times more than the Royals!
Where are the sabrs for that stat?
RotoWorld inferred in a blurb on Addison Russell that he is a better hitter lately because he is taking more walks.
Russell hits ninth!
Most walks to a ninth hitter is because of two things....
1. Wildness in a pitcher.
2. Strategy from a pitcher.
Russell has very little to do with drawing a walk. The power, almost all in the pitchers hands.
This is like lauding Matt Harvey for walking twice in four at bats.
We live in an era of the ERA.
Pitchers are more dominant than hitters.
When this happens, we want to buck up the underdog.
The hitters are the underdogs so we give them credit for walks.
Too much credit.
When/if Harper slumps, his walks will slow. The fear factor diminished, more pitchers will try to get him out instead of avoiding him. Sabrs will point to these less walks as why Harper is slumping. It's a vicious circle.
Walks do not validate a hitter. They do not make him a better hitter.
Walks are a statistic that sabrs, like Bryan Kenny, put far too much credence and trust.
For me... A fly in my soup. A turd in my punch bowl. A Bryan Kenny in my ear.
