I’m loving our patience at the plate

[Frobby]

I almost can’t believe my eyes.  Finally, an Orioles team that makes the opposing pitchers work and throw strikes.

So far the O’s lead the AL with 78 walks, almost 5 per game.  They also lead in pitches per plate appearance, at 4.11.  The team OBP is nearly 100 points higher than its BA.

Yesterday, we just ground away at Cease, laying off a ton of tough pitches.   It was so refreshing to see.   Watching Adley and Gunnar spit on pitches just off the plate is an absolute joy.  And a lot of the other players are making strides in that direction.

I could get used to this. And I expect to.

[Three Run Homer]

Clearly Elias values plate discipline in the draft, and I'm guessing that plate discipline is emphasized in instruction as well.   It's great that we are seeing the dividends at the major league level.  Even guys like Mateo and Mountcastle seem to be taking a more disciplined approach this year.  

[Just Regular]

The Peak Adley Teams lineups with Cowser, Kjerstad and Holliday all up and acclimated could really be something.

In his prime Dylan Cease is one of the 10-15 best pitchers in the league, and these Early Adley Teams guys outplayed him yesterday.

[sportsfan8703]

MLB League Leaders in BB,

1. Adley 16

5. Gunnar 13

10. Mullins 12

Gunnar might be struggling, but he's basically being pitched around like Adley.  He's just a tad bit younger and not a SH.  

 

[Frobby]

Just now, sportsfan8703 said:

MLB League Leaders in BB,

1. Adley 16

5. Gunnar 13

10. Mullins 12

Gunnar might be struggling, but he's basically being pitched around like Adley.  He's just a tad bit younger and not a SH.  

 

I don’t think Gunnar is being pitched around. He just has an extraordinarily good batting eye.  

[Just Regular]

Just now, sportsfan8703 said:

Gunnar might be struggling, but he's basically being pitched around like Adley.  He's just a tad bit younger and not a SH.  

I don't think he's being pitched around.    These Driveline dudes with their amped up pitches want to throw him strikes - they just can't often enough and they are encountering hitters who command the strike zone well enough not to chase too much.

[sportsfan8703]

2 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I don’t think Gunnar is being pitched around. He just has an extraordinarily good batting eye.  

Maybe not pitched around, but pitchers are giving him very few fastballs.  He's getting a good diet of low and in breaking balls.  He's just got to take his walks.  Pitchers do not want him getting his arms extended it seems.  

[spleen1015]

7 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I don’t think Gunnar is being pitched around. He just has an extraordinarily good batting eye.  

I'm planning to go back and look at this, but I think he is taking a lot of 1st pitch strikes that are very hittable pitches and ends up striking out that AB.

I'm trying to find somewhere to get pitch charts for all of his AB if anyone knows where they exist. Other than going through all of the games with Gameday, I don't know where else to get this.

[Aristotelian]

+1, amazing to see the O's in that conversation of elite OBP teams. Despite his struggles Gunnar is a big part of it (22% BB rate). After Adley, Gunnar, and Mullins, we also have Frazier and Urias over 10%, plus Santander's BB% spiked last year and is up this year (9.4%). Mateo is tied with Santander. That's seven guys over 9%.

Last year, we had one (Adley).  

This stuff will probably normalize but it's great to see in the early going. It is so frustrating to a pitcher when you turn a would be strikeout into a walk. For so many years we have been on the other end of it. In all our comebacks this year it seems we have at least one big inning. I'd be curious to know how many of those baserunners are coming from walks. 

[interloper]

Yeah so many years of having one of the most aggressive/hacking lineups in the game. It's so nice to see quality ABs, walks, guys going the other way, up the middle, etc. I don't know if I expect it to continue at this pace, but I'm trying not to think about it too much. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Maybe not pitched around, but pitchers are giving him very few fastballs.  He's getting a good diet of low and in breaking balls.  He's just got to take his walks.  Pitchers do not want him getting his arms extended it seems.  

I agree with this.  I think people know he can hammer a good fastball...even though he hasn't been in the league very long, they know he's a good fastball hitter.  He's going to have to work to see them and pitchers are going to want to challenge him with offspeed and breaking balls.  I think they'll concede a walk but they don't want to groove a fastball to him.

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

I don’t think Gunnar is being pitched around. He just has an extraordinarily good batting eye.  

I think he was being pitched around.    I can think of at least 4 instances on a 3-2 count where he was thrown a back foot breaking ball out of the zone instead of being challenged in the strike zone.   Unfortunately, he was going bad and struck out on those pitches but I definitely think pitchers have been very careful with him.

[banks703]

Quote

8 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I agree with this.  I think people know he can hammer a good fastball...even though he hasn't been in the league very long, they know he's a good fastball hitter.  He's going to have to work to see them and pitchers are going to want to challenge him with offspeed and breaking balls.  I think they'll concede a walk but they don't want to groove a fastball to him.

 

These are my general observations as well and what I mentioned in the other thread. When (and I do think it's a matter of when and not if) Gunnar figures out how to attack pitchers pitches in the zone, the tone is going to change very much to him taking advantage of pitchers mistakes. I think he's seeing the ball relatively well (though I'm not completely convinced the selectiveness isn't at least some of him being fooled) but as mentioned in the other thread, I love his patience. I would like to see him take some cuts at pitches earlier in the count though.

 

It's a tough complaint that your rookie top prospect is top 5 in the league in walks and his approach seems very on-brand with what the entire team has deployed. As Frobby points out, it's sooo much more fun to watch this brand of baseball over the swing hard in case you hit it approach with guys like Crush and Trumbo, etc. etc. 

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

It was so refreshing to see.   Watching Adley and Gunnar spit on pitches just off the plate is an absolute joy.  And a lot of the other players are making strides in that direction.

[waroriole]

2 hours ago, Just Regular said:

The Peak Adley Teams lineups with Cowser, Kjerstad and Holliday all up and acclimated could really be something.

In his prime Dylan Cease is one of the 10-15 best pitchers in the league, and these Early Adley Teams guys outplayed him yesterday.

Just imagining that Adley hasn’t hit peak form is amazing. He may actually get better. 

[deward]

49 minutes ago, banks703 said:

These are my general observations as well and what I mentioned in the other thread. When (and I do think it's a matter of when and not if) Gunnar figures out how to attack pitchers pitches in the zone, the tone is going to change very much to him taking advantage of pitchers mistakes. I think he's seeing the ball relatively well (though I'm not completely convinced the selectiveness isn't at least some of him being fooled) but as mentioned in the other thread, I love his patience. I would like to see him take some cuts at pitches earlier in the count though.

 

It's a tough complaint that your rookie top prospect is top 5 in the league in walks and his approach seems very on-brand with what the entire team has deployed. As Frobby points out, it's sooo much more fun to watch this brand of baseball over the swing hard in case you hit it approach with guys like Crush and Trumbo, etc. etc. 

Peak Davis wasn't a walk machine, but he was fairly patient, certainly the most patient guy on those teams. Jones was the leader of the free-swinging pack (looking only at the 2012-2017 run).