One little talked about fact of 2008 is that the Mets are walking, and walking, and walking....
They have already accrued 58 walks in 12 games, almost 5 walks per game. To put that in perspective the 2007 Mets walked 549 times in 162 games, 3.4 walks per game.
In Spring Training we heard Mets hitting coach Howard Johnson speak often about "seeing more pitches" and having a disciplined approach at the plate. The players obviously listened.
Another factor in the increases in bases on balls is the makeup of the team. Luis Castillo, for all his hitting woes, is an infinitely patient hitter who sees a lot of pitches. He has 7 walks in his first 9 games of the year...another reason to like him in the #8 hole.
Carlos Beltran and David Wright are both showing excellent early-season plate discipline. Beltran leads the club with 12 walks and DW is right behind him with 9.
Of note is the impact that the Milledge trade is having on the Mets OBP numbers. Both Milledge and Loduca were low walk guys with the Mets, and their replacements, Brian Schneider and Ryan Church, are sporting OBPs over .370.
We'll see if this trend continues--if it does than the Mets are going to win a ton of ballgames this year by strolling rather than hacking.
5 comments:
Good point about the walks. Don't you think that the bats look ready to explode here any day?
Another thing is guys look more comfortable this year.
The only thing that worries me is that Reyes isn't doing any of the walking. He only has 2 free passes this year, lowest of any starter on the team. When Reyes got off to his hot start last year, he was walking alot.
Spot on with your Reyes comment.
That said, even last year Jose was a "streaky walker", so I'm not all that worried yet.
My thoughts are that he needed to find his stroke, and he seemed to do just that last night, and now the walks, energy, steals and the rest will follow.
As anyone who has played a lot of baseball will tell you, it's tough to walk your way out of a slump.
So maybe we're just going to see a delayed hot start for Jose....here's to hoping anyway.
Done! Thanks for the link.
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