JermaineDye05
05-27-2011, 03:34 PM
So said Steve Stone on the Score today.
I never thought about it until Stone mentioned it, but this team really doesn't have many patient hitters.
As Stone noted, Morel has yet to take a walk this year. We know how difficult it is to walk Alexei, Gordon, and Pierre. AJ rarely takes more than three pitches in an at-bat.
We really don't need to go into too much detail on how bad both Dunn and Rios have been.
Looking at the stats right now, the Sox are 26th in the league in walks.
For those wondering, this isn't new.
Last year, the Sox were 25th. The year before that, they were 19th.
The highest the Sox have been in this category was 13th which was in 2002.
Stone mentioned that because this team is so deficient in this facet of the game, they have a tendency to go into these prolonged slumps. When you're not taking walks, you're giving starters a better chance to remain in the game past the 6th inning. While good teams who work the count can knock a starter out before the 7th inning. The Sox are just hitting too many pitchers pitches.
I don't know if better plate discipline is going turn this offense around for the foreseeable future, but I'm sure it's one reason why this team has seen these prolonged slumps for the past couple of seasons.
The question is, do we put that solely on the players that Kenny has brought in? The coaching staff? Or is it a combination?
I never thought about it until Stone mentioned it, but this team really doesn't have many patient hitters.
As Stone noted, Morel has yet to take a walk this year. We know how difficult it is to walk Alexei, Gordon, and Pierre. AJ rarely takes more than three pitches in an at-bat.
We really don't need to go into too much detail on how bad both Dunn and Rios have been.
Looking at the stats right now, the Sox are 26th in the league in walks.
For those wondering, this isn't new.
Last year, the Sox were 25th. The year before that, they were 19th.
The highest the Sox have been in this category was 13th which was in 2002.
Stone mentioned that because this team is so deficient in this facet of the game, they have a tendency to go into these prolonged slumps. When you're not taking walks, you're giving starters a better chance to remain in the game past the 6th inning. While good teams who work the count can knock a starter out before the 7th inning. The Sox are just hitting too many pitchers pitches.
I don't know if better plate discipline is going turn this offense around for the foreseeable future, but I'm sure it's one reason why this team has seen these prolonged slumps for the past couple of seasons.
The question is, do we put that solely on the players that Kenny has brought in? The coaching staff? Or is it a combination?