Wobbly-Knee'd Offensive Statistics

[DOUGHBOYS]

When I start looking at statistics for an upcoming drafting season, there is one statistic, I pay almost no attention.
You may have guessed.
It is the base on balls.
I say 'almost', because it is important if a base stealer looks at a lot of pitches. He doesn't have to be Rickeyish in taking walks.
What I'm looking for is a speedster who is willing to find any way to reach first base.
After all, if power is not part of a hitter's game, reaching first base is the optimal goal.

I will also look at walks from a pitcher's perspective and how I view that pitcher's control.
Sabr's always forget that it is the PITCHER who has the control over whether a batter walks or not.
Last night alone, Edwin Diaz walked the world. Somehow, in sabr's minds, that credit should be an offensive statistic.
Carlos Carrasco and Chris Archer were hyped to have a pitchers duel. Neither had control and hitters were walked.
Those too, will become offensive merits for hitters.
Ugh.

As I've said before, I believe that the walk, OBP, and every other hitters statistic that dwells around the walk was made up by ninth-hitting Little League kids who still want to be a part of the baseball landscape.
These kids were stuffed in lockers as kids and now they want to perpetuate what their coaches begged THEM to do.
"DON'T SWING, TAKE A WALK!"
"A WALK IS AS GOOD AS A HIT!"
"A WALK BRINGS UP THAT GOOD HITTER BEHIND YOU!"
If walked, these kids were treated as Kings. THEY DID NOT MAKE AN OUT! They were slapped on the back and praised.
They felt like a larger part of the team!
They were somebody!
And all they had to do was stand there and hope that another 10 year-old would do what most 10 year-old's have problems doing....throw strikes.

Now, they've brought that low standard to the Big Leagues. It was even embraced by Billy Beane and popularized in a movie.
The On Base Percentage boomed into the stat above all stats.
These geeks actually changed baseball for a time.
Like a wobbly-knee'd 10 year old standing in a batter's box, praying for any pitches not over the plate or at his body, some players took more pitches.
Kevin Youkilis was called 'the Greek God of walks'.
The geeks had their cover boy!

But you know what?
Youkilis was a fraud.
He walked over 80 times, ONCE in his career.
Joey Votto would walk all over him.
But, it didn't matter.
Youkilis will always be a God to the geeks. He perpetuated their way of thinking.
He had a nickname that involved walks!

Since, OBP has become a standard statistic that is used in conjunction with OPS and some other letter combinations.
It has become a 'But' statistic for roto blurbs.

'Ryan Schimpf is hitting .152 BUT he is drawing walks'

'Hunter Renfroe is hitting .217 BUT he has drawn nine walks in May.

It's sad in so many ways.
"He can really hit the ball!" ...now.... "Wow, a seven pitch at bat"
Good field, no hit...now.... good field, no walks?
C'mon Man!
I just refuse to believe in that so many folks are suckered into what the geeks are selling.
Players, after all, take batting practice, not walking practice!

Ryan Zimmerman set baseball on its ear during April.
He walked SIX TIMES during the month.
If he had gone up to the plate looking to take walks, he would have missed out on the best month of his hitting life!
Somehow, these geeks want us to believe that taking more walks makes players better hitters.
That is not true at all.
In the Majors, you only get so many hittable baseballs.
HIT EM LIKE ZIM!

I know I rant about the base on balls probably too much.
It just gets to me when a batter goes down 0-2 in the count, only to have the pitcher try to get to fine and throw four straight balls.
In my world, the pitcher should be chastised for letting a batter off the hook.
In the real world now, the batter is lauded for 'working' the walk.
It's ok to hit .152 and .217 as long as walks are involved.

Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista have been great hitters over the last 10 years.
This year, both are struggling.
Fantasy owners are wishing they didn't draft them.
BUT, you know what Encarnacion and Bautista ARE doing?
That's right, both are among the top 10 of drawing walks.
I don't care.
Hell, THEY probably don't care!
They want to hit!
That is what they are known for.
They're not wobbly-knee'd ninth hitters!
The walk is a by-product of being feared.
10 years of great hitting buys walks, if that is what you're looking for.
That is not what they are looking for.
Encarnacion or Bautista are having crappy years.
The walks, again, are a big BUT for them.
For the geeks, stuck in lockers, trying to make their mark in Major League Baseball, it is victory.

(Sorry in advance. I get wrapped up in this walkmania thing among stats and start ranting. I try to stop myself, I really do.
I've seen good hitters throw down their bats in disgust when walked and fans booing the intentional walk of their best hitter.
Why?
Because of the premonition that more damage can be done with the swinging of a bat, then laying the bat on the ground.
If sabrs truly want the walk to count as an offensive stat, then incorporate the seven pitch or more base on balls as 'an earned walk'.
This would eliminate the walks that come from pitching around hitters, intentional walks, and wild pitching- All controlled by the pitcher, not the hitter.)