[QUOTE=Jason19th;2215347]
Quote:
Originally Posted by D. Bergin
I would argue that Nolan’s walk rate has nothing to do with control. I believe- and I may be stealing some of this from Bill James- that it was Nolan’s ego that lead to his walks. He was obsessed with limiting hits. He refused to give anyone anything to hit ever. While this got him lots of glory and no hitters it also lead to the insane pitch counts, the super high walk rates and his very mediocre era’s. He would have rather had an inning where he threw 40 pitches to get three walks and 3 strike outs then to risk giving up a hit. A lot of people seem to celebrate this. I don’t understand the adoration.
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Not sure I buy this as his walk rate was almost always steadily improving through his career. In his last 9 full seasons he had 8 of his best BB/9 rates.