Ordinarily, JDM would have no business playing LF at Fenway on a wet day, but the Sox needed to sit Verdugo and Franchy, for different reasons.
Guys either draw a lot of walks or they don’t. If you want different results, you usually need different players. But some of the Sox’ lowest walk rates belong to their best hitters.
Also worth nothing that only Detroit’s pitchers have issued more walks than the Sox in the AL. That’s concerning too.
Thanks for reading and commenting, Walt! I don't subscribe to that theory of plate patience. I think players can learn better patience over time and I think that's born out in the numbers. That said, it's not something you would expect to take a big leap in-season, so I agree with you there. As to who is at fault, that might be worth digging into later so forgive me for holding that back for now ;)
As for the pitching, I think we knew before the season that this was going to be a high-walk issuing staff. Maybe not *this* high, but definitely in the top third. The back of the rotation (3-through-5) have extremely high walk rates, none of which is supported by a high strikeout rate, so that's concerning to me (I wrote about this recently in regards to Pivetta). Hopefully those numbers change soon for the better.
Very insightful points, Matt.
If I can expand on a couple of them.
Ordinarily, JDM would have no business playing LF at Fenway on a wet day, but the Sox needed to sit Verdugo and Franchy, for different reasons.
Guys either draw a lot of walks or they don’t. If you want different results, you usually need different players. But some of the Sox’ lowest walk rates belong to their best hitters.
Also worth nothing that only Detroit’s pitchers have issued more walks than the Sox in the AL. That’s concerning too.
Ironically
Thanks for reading and commenting, Walt! I don't subscribe to that theory of plate patience. I think players can learn better patience over time and I think that's born out in the numbers. That said, it's not something you would expect to take a big leap in-season, so I agree with you there. As to who is at fault, that might be worth digging into later so forgive me for holding that back for now ;)
As for the pitching, I think we knew before the season that this was going to be a high-walk issuing staff. Maybe not *this* high, but definitely in the top third. The back of the rotation (3-through-5) have extremely high walk rates, none of which is supported by a high strikeout rate, so that's concerning to me (I wrote about this recently in regards to Pivetta). Hopefully those numbers change soon for the better.