Posted by Jtpsops on 8/18/2017 9:26:00 PM (view original):
Posted by wylie715 on 8/18/2017 7:14:00 PM (view original):
its amazing how you know what's in my mind. Nobody ever said everytime Edgar walked it was on a borderline pitch and he should have swung at it, or at least I never said that. All I said is there were times, if I was his manager, I would have preferred he try to get a hit instead of taking a walk. Of course I am not and never will be a major league manager, so what the hell do I know?
It's not necessarily directed at you specifically. There are certain individuals who continue to bring up the "Edgar hurt his team by not putting the ball in play" as if he just constantly chose to watch pitches in key game situations.
And, as I've previously pointed out, these pathetic trolls don't apply that standard to other good hitters who drew a high amount of walks. Apparently one of the best hitters of all time in Ted Williams, even with his .344 career batting average, saw fit to let some Ball 4's go by, considering he led the league in walks 8 times (more often than he led the league in BA).
It's retarded to insinuate a good hitter should always be swinging the bat.
You keep channeling your inner BL with posts like this, as you keep insisting that absolutes are being argued when, in fact, they're not.
Nobody is saying "always". If the bases are empty, there's nothing wrong with drawing a walk ("a walk's as good as a hit"). Likewise, especially in the ninth inning if you're down a couple of runs, when you're down to your last out (or two or three), base runners are vital. If you're down to your last out and you're down 3 with a runner on second, take the walk. Getting the potential tying run to the plate has more value in terms of risk/reward than putting the ball in play attempting to drive in what could be a meaningless run (i.e. meaningless, if you don't get at least two more).
In other words, it's situational. The mindset of "walks are always preferable" shouldn't be the absolute that the sabrmetric crowd thinks it should be.
Those are just a handful of the exceptions. There are more.
But in general, as a rule, you want you best hitters actually, you know, "hitting". If there's a runner on second base, and you have a good hitter at the plate, let's say somebody of EM's caliber, then I want him swinging at hittable pitches rather that trying to work a walk.