Ed Encina: Buck and Plate Discipline

[weams]

Orioles manager Buck Showalter discusses "the mentality" of plate discipline and drawing walks.

... I asked manager Buck Showalter yesterday about plate discipline.

Parmelee arrived in the major leagues with a .395 on-base percentage in Triple-A, partially based on a remarkable 14.1 percent walk rate in the minors. He has struggled to duplicate that in the majors.

The Orioles lineup is known for its aggressiveness at the plate. But when the Orioles aren't hitting home runs, like they often do, the aggressive mindset hurts the team's on-base capabilities. That's one of the reasons why Parmelee is here competing for a major league roster spot.

But just how tough is it to continue putting up solid walk numbers in the major leagues after showing that skill in Triple-A?

"I think the mentality translates," Showalter said. "You can't take until you hit. It's hit until you take. If I said, [do you want] a guy who is hitting .320 with 20 home runs and no walks or a guy who hits .280 with a bunch of walks and six home runs, which one is going to correlate at the next level more"

"The better the stuff, the [more] pitches you should be taking? It gets washed out because the better the hitter, the more comfortable you feel swinging the bat. You can teach the mentality and the philosophy, but the physical skill of it, you're not going to see it fluctuate a lot."

Showalter pointed out that Adam Jones, who has a walk rate of 4.3 percent (the league average is 8 percent), won't be walking 100 times this year after his fourth straight season of at least 25 homers and 80 RBIs.

"We can get him to somewhere else, but would something else suffer?? Showalter said. "I don't know."

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