Walk this Way

[Petagine in a Bottle]

During the epically frustrating conclusion to today's first game, and yet another squander by the Sox, I couldn't help but think about how this team is so aggressive, no matter the situation, and how different that approach seems to be from our opponents (and from successful Sox teams of the past). In today's game, Sox pitchers walked six (three of whom scored, another run reached by way of HBP); while Sox batters walked twice (and one of them scored).

This pattern of Sox pitchers walking more than Sox batters has been a constant theme throughout the season- while Sox batters are aggressive, Sox pitchers seem to nibble and avoid contact.

Rafael Devers leads the Sox in walks, and ranks tied for 38th in baseball. Lead off man Enrique Hernandez is tied for 45th, while JD and X are tied for 55th.

Over the course of the season, the Sox have walked 360 times (8.0% of PA's) while issuing 409 walks (9.0% of PA's). The differential of -49 is better than only these teams., none of which are particularly good.

Tm	PA	BB	BB	BF	BB Diff
Kansas City Royals	4294	308	445	4433	-137
Los Angeles Angels	4445	322	444	4564	-122
St. Louis Cardinals	4329	352	473	4421	-121
Baltimore Orioles	4319	323	418	4523	-95
Chicago Cubs	4443	371	447	4624	-76
Cleveland Indians	4265	329	401	4348	-72
Pittsburgh Pirates	4381	369	438	4462	-69
Cincinnati Reds	4636	425	489	4663	-64

On the flip side, the teams with the best "walk differential" are pretty much all good teams, led by the Yankees, Giants, Rays, Dodgers, A's, and White Sox.

Batting	Pitching
Tm	PA	BB	BB	BF	BB Diff
Philadelphia Phillies	4417	410	371	4419	39
Atlanta Braves	4480	431	391	4424	40
Minnesota Twins	4498	404	350	4465	54
San Diego Padres	4560	451	374	4505	77
Chicago White Sox	4437	439	358	4302	81
Oakland Athletics	4483	406	317	4406	89
Los Angeles Dodgers	4645	469	373	4365	96
Tampa Bay Rays	4574	442	340	4417	102
San Francisco Giants	4524	441	315	4367	126
New York Yankees	4450	482	350	4342	132

It certainly seems as if the Sox, due to their lack of walks and situational hitting, are prone to squanders and games where their run output doesn't align with expectations. On the flip side, they've been burned lately by a pitching staff that puts a ton of guys on for free. It also seems like the Sox offense, outside of the core guys, has a lot of players who are kind of feast or famine- the Dalbec's, Vazquez's, Duran's, etc. of the world who are not often helpful when they aren't hitting.

This pattern of issuing more walks than drawing happened with the '19 team, but not the '18 team.

I thought this was interesting, but need to flesh it out a bit more...maybe this is nothing? Curious what others think.

 

[GB5]

agreed, as I have watched so many of their games this year, and thought to myself as a Sox hitter was going through an at bat," This pitcher is going to walk you, the only thing that is going to get in the way of a free pass, is if you dont allow him to walk you" Invariably this year, the Sox have expanded the strike zone in big spots. Tough to isolate one pitch on guys, but Kike's swing on a 3-1 pitch in the top of the 7th yesterday with the bases loaded and one out, changed the whole complexion of the game. Take the pitch, take your base, its 5-4 one out and the bases still loaded. The Yankees won that game on the backs of three walks and a bloop for three runs in the 5th. They let the sox walk them and didnt get in the way of the Sox pitchers generosity. We have constantly taken the opposite approach and it has cost us. Young pitcher on the mound in a big game, bases loaded, he goes to 3-0, then 3-1 on back to back batters, and we should have been taking pitches everywhere.

 

[joe dokes]

During the epically frustrating conclusion to today's first game, and yet another squander by the Sox, I couldn't help but think about how this team is so aggressive, no matter the situation, and how different that approach seems to be from our opponents (and from successful Sox teams of the past). In today's game, Sox pitchers walked six (three of whom scored, another run reached by way of HBP); while Sox batters walked twice (and one of them scored).

This pattern of Sox pitchers walking more than Sox batters has been a constant theme throughout the season- while Sox batters are aggressive, Sox pitchers seem to nibble and avoid contact.

Rafael Devers leads the Sox in walks, and ranks tied for 38th in baseball. Lead off man Enrique Hernandez is tied for 45th, while JD and X are tied for 55th.

Over the course of the season, the Sox have walked 360 times (8.0% of PA's) while issuing 409 walks (9.0% of PA's). The differential of -49 is better than only these teams., none of which are particularly good.

Tm	PA	BB	BB	BF	BB Diff
Kansas City Royals	4294	308	445	4433	-137
Los Angeles Angels	4445	322	444	4564	-122
St. Louis Cardinals	4329	352	473	4421	-121
Baltimore Orioles	4319	323	418	4523	-95
Chicago Cubs	4443	371	447	4624	-76
Cleveland Indians	4265	329	401	4348	-72
Pittsburgh Pirates	4381	369	438	4462	-69
Cincinnati Reds	4636	425	489	4663	-64

On the flip side, the teams with the best "walk differential" are pretty much all good teams, led by the Yankees, Giants, Rays, Dodgers, A's, and White Sox.

Batting	Pitching
Tm	PA	BB	BB	BF	BB Diff
Philadelphia Phillies	4417	410	371	4419	39
Atlanta Braves	4480	431	391	4424	40
Minnesota Twins	4498	404	350	4465	54
San Diego Padres	4560	451	374	4505	77
Chicago White Sox	4437	439	358	4302	81
Oakland Athletics	4483	406	317	4406	89
Los Angeles Dodgers	4645	469	373	4365	96
Tampa Bay Rays	4574	442	340	4417	102
San Francisco Giants	4524	441	315	4367	126
New York Yankees	4450	482	350	4342	132

It certainly seems as if the Sox, due to their lack of walks and situational hitting, are prone to squanders and games where their run output doesn't align with expectations. On the flip side, they've been burned lately by a pitching staff that puts a ton of guys on for free. It also seems like the Sox offense, outside of the core guys, has a lot of players who are kind of feast or famine- the Dalbec's, Vazquez's, Duran's, etc. of the world who are not often helpful when they aren't hitting.

This pattern of issuing more walks than drawing happened with the '19 team, but not the '18 team.

I thought this was interesting, but need to flesh it out a bit more...maybe this is nothing? Curious what others think.

I dont think a team issuing more walks than it receives is relevant to anything, as the two occurrences are entirely unrelated. (Unlike, say, defensive efficiency and ERA -- both of which are measures related to run prevention) The Sox are a touch below average in both walk categories. Maybe those are issues maybe they aren't. But they are independent of each other.

 

[cantor44]

I dont think a team issuing more walks than it receives is relevant to anything, as the two occurrences are entirely unrelated. (Unlike, say, defensive efficiency and ERA -- both of which are measures related to run prevention) The Sox are a touch below average in both walk categories. Maybe those are issues maybe they aren't. But they are independent of each other.

Well, obviously, the ability to take walks is an essential skill, and the Sox hitters are not producing in that regard. If they were, they likely would have walked more times than Sox pitchers would have walked the opponent. That is, while the two things are unrelated, the differential is indicative of something. I mean - look at all the top teams on the plus side!

This came up in another thread recently. I heard Cora quoted, saying the Sox hitters NEVER have the red light. No one. In any circumstance. This seems an overcorrection to pitchers adjusting to the "take the first pitch" approach of the last era, and one that essentially ignores situational consideration of a hitter's approach to being respectively aggressive or patient. And so seems emblematic of me of Cora's achilles heal as a manager and this current iteration of the team: single view analysis and approaches, rather than flexible and highly contextual approaches (another ex: pulling Houck in the game yesterday).

They don't play all that smart. And the lack of walks shows as much. Frustrating as fuck cuz they have a lot of talent.