Doc, analyzing it further, the Pirates have drawn the 3rd highest amount of walks in MLB. Only the Dodgers and Yankees have walked more. Those teams have batters who scare opponents and get pitched around. But the Dodgers also lead MLB in runs scored and the Yankees are 8th of 30 teams.
What have the Pirates done with all those walks? Well, they are 2nd in MLB in runners left on base. (Curiously, the Dodgers lead MLB in both runs and LOB. They've got base runners they don't even know what to do with. ) The Pirates just look for walks. They don't move them around the bases with multiple hits in the same inning. They rarely score them with HRs (they have the fewest HRs in MLB). Their Money Ball approach of overvaluing walks has done nothing but inflate their LOB total. Walks and hits are a great combination. But walking without hitting means nothing. The Pirates are 24th in hits and 27th in team BA. But 3rd in walks and 2nd in LOB. Maybe the Haines hitting philosophy is to drive up the pitch count and look for walks because good things rarely happen when they swing the bats. But the walks aren't doing them any good anyway. Might as well swing away.
Jared Jones might be the most exciting rookie pitcher in MLB this year. In 8 starts he has never given up more than 3 runs. In 47 innings, he's given up only 34 hits. He's walked only 7. His WHIP looks like a misprint: 0.872. He's struck out 56.
But he's only 2-4. One of those two wins was a 1-0 game. In his 8 starts the Pirates have scored a total of 22 runs. But 9 of those came in his first game. The 4 runs he got on April 22 seems like a bonanza. In the other six starts his run support was 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2.
Bobster wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 3:22 pm
Doc, analyzing it further, the Pirates have drawn the 3rd highest amount of walks in MLB. Only the Dodgers and Yankees have walked more. Those teams have batters who scare opponents and get pitched around. But the Dodgers also lead MLB in runs scored and the Yankees are 8th of 30 teams.
What have the Pirates done with all those walks? Well, they are 2nd in MLB in runners left on base. (Curiously, the Dodgers lead MLB in both runs and LOB. They've got base runners they don't even know what to do with. ) The Pirates just look for walks. They don't move them around the bases with multiple hits in the same inning. They rarely score them with HRs (they have the fewest HRs in MLB). Their Money Ball approach of overvaluing walks has done nothing but inflate their LOB total. Walks and hits are a great combination. But walking without hitting means nothing. The Pirates are 24th in hits and 27th in team BA. But 3rd in walks and 2nd in LOB. Maybe the Haines hitting philosophy is to drive up the pitch count and look for walks because good things rarely happen when they swing the bats. But the walks aren't doing them any good anyway. Might as well swing away.
All of this is a great example of why walks are not as good as hits. And perhaps you've hit upon something: Haines has employed his philosophy of having the hitters trying to walk because none of them can actually hit.
Bobster wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 3:32 pm
Jared Jones might be the most exciting rookie pitcher in MLB this year. In 8 starts he has never given up more than 3 runs. In 47 innings, he's given up only 34 hits. He's walked only 7. His WHIP looks like a misprint: 0.872. He's struck out 56.
But he's only 2-4. One of those two wins was a 1-0 game. In his 8 starts the Pirates have scored a total of 22 runs. But 9 of those came in his first game. The 4 runs he got on April 22 seems like a bonanza. In the other six starts his run support was 2, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2.
) The Pirates just look for walks. They don't move them around the bases with multiple hits in the same inning. They rarely score them with HRs (they have the fewest HRs in MLB). Their Money Ball approach of overvaluing walks has done nothing but inflate their LOB total. Walks and hits are a great combination. But walking without hitting means nothing. The Pirates are 24th in hits and 27th in team BA. But 3rd in walks and 2nd in LOB. Maybe the Haines hitting philosophy is to drive up the pitch count and look for walks because good things rarely happen when they swing the bats. But the walks aren't doing them any good anyway. Might as well swing away.