This offensive style is not sustainable

[interloper]

We are 1st in home runs and 29th in walk rate. 

I'm not suggesting walk rate is the end-all, be-all, but if you're not getting on base, all those home runs you're hitting are going to mostly be solo home runs. 

We started off the year much more balanced and now we look like the ghost of the Dan Duquette-era offense. Over-reliance on the home run, low OBP, can't really string hits and walks together in an inning. Not chasing the starting pitcher quickly enough. 

Yeah, we've won some games despite this, and yes overall our runs scored are up there, but I think we're starting to see what can happen with this style of offense long term. Of course, it doesn't help when you insist on playing 57 OPS+ McCann against every lefty and put Mullins right behind him. 

I guess this is somewhat reactionary, but I fail to see how this is sustainable when the other high-scoring teams feature a much more balanced offense when it comes to HR and BBs. We are the outlier by a significant degree, and that is worrying. 

Edited May 15 by interloper

[Spy Fox]

I'm interested to look into which players have changed from last year to be responsible for the lower walk rate. Basically every offensive player is returning and this doesn't feel like it should be a 29th in MLB walk rate team. 

[interloper]

P.S. I'm not saying it can't be turned around if guys start to hit like their track records. Just saying if it doesn't turn around, there's really no way we can continue to win games at the same pace by only hitting solo home runs. And we're starting to see that now. 

Edited May 15 by interloper

[ChicagoTerp]

This offense is straining. There's a lot of pressure being a highly touted pre-FA player on a winning team, and this team is pretty much full of them. When it's good, it's great, but a tough game or two can snowball quickly. My 2 cents.

[interloper]

See? 2-run homers. That's what it's all about.

[Moose Milligan]

I was excited last year because it looked like we were building an offense that could work counts, take walks, drive up starters pitch counts and provide consistent runs.  Yeah, there were some dry spells last summer but they seemed few and far between.

Watching this offense right now is borderline insufferable.  

[Cuellar35]

1st world problems.  How quickly we forget 2021 and most of 2022.  I still us as ahead of schedule.

[Too Tall]

It's not just walk rate but they are swinging at pitches good hitters take. Strike outs up and down the line up at balls not close to the strike zone. Approach??? I agree with the OP, this team is playing offensive baseball right now that is not sustainable. We won today but....The pitching today wasn't great but the offensive approach was terrible in my opinion. Crap sandwiched between two home runs. Sure we need bull pen help but we also need more professional hitters. Today's game was ugly but I'll take the win!.

[Can_of_corn]

It's team wide.

They said they were going to move in the opposite direction, they drafted players to facilitate that.  They developed them and suddenly, team wide, they flipped the script.

It has to be by design coming from the FO.

[Ripken]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

It's team wide.

They said they were going to move in the opposite direction, they drafted players to facilitate that.  They developed them and suddenly, team wide, they flipped the script.

It has to be by design coming from the FO.

In the two game Toronto series, the O's had 5 BBs and 20 Ks.  Beyond that, everyone except Adley was swinging at every pitch.  That's not going to work. 

[Orioles0615]

When do we start to question why they have 2 hitting coaches plus an offensive strategy coordinator . 

 

Do all teams have this many hitting coaches 

[interloper]

6 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

It's team wide.

They said they were going to move in the opposite direction, they drafted players to facilitate that.  They developed them and suddenly, team wide, they flipped the script.

It has to be by design coming from the FO.

I'm sure SOME of it is by design. We know they preach being aggressive on pitch you can hit. I think the players are now struggling to find the balance with that. At least temporarily. 

They like guys with knowledge of the strike zone with good minor league BB:K ratios. So it's not like they don't value it. But something isn't translating at the big league level. Seems like all the players looked at Gunnar and said WE NEED TO BE AGGRESSIVE LIKE HE WAS. 

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, Ripken said:

In the two game Toronto series, the O's had 5 BBs and 20 Ks.  Beyond that, everyone except Adley was swinging at every pitch.  That's not going to work. 

That's a 2 game sample size.

And they could have easily won both games.

[interloper]

Just now, Can_of_corn said:

That's a 2 game sample size.

And they could have easily won both games.

You just said it was a directive from the FO, but then you said it's a 2 game sample. Which is it? 

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, interloper said:

You just said it was a directive from the FO, but then you said it's a 2 game sample. Which is it? 

Huh?

The trend toward more aggressive at bats, which we've seen for more than two games, is a directive.

Trying to pull data from a 2 game series is trying to pull data from a 2 game series. 

News flash, MLB team strikes out a lot over the span of 2 games, highlights following the break!