What are they so afraid of?
 

Through 43 games he's played, Yasmani Grandal has only 18 hits but has walked a ML-leading 48 times!


Has anyone ever come close to this?

He's a catcher, so he probably has a much better idea of the strike zone than most and half of his hits have left the park, but good grief!

Grandal's overall stats:

43G-116AB-28R-18H-9HR-21RBI-.155BA-48BB-44K

Likely just has a fantastic eye and a refusal to swing at anything outside of the zone, or even on the edge of the zone (lots of strikeouts to). You can almost forgive your catcher hitting .155, when he still has a .400 On base percentage.

Makes me wonder how many other players fit the mold of walking far more then you'd think they should, given their profile.

First player I thought of was Willie Randolph. Pretty good hitter, but given a lot of the lineups he was a part of, you wouldn't think pitchers would be pitching around him. However, unlike Grandal, Randolph also rarely struck out and had great bat control. I'm pretty sure he was really good at fouling balls off and working the count in his favor.

Randolph, while perhaps being the closest comparison (good call), presented far less of an immediate (HR) threat, but, as you said, hit for a much higher average.



This takes us back to the singular threat of the long ball...even from a .155 hitter.



Randolph stats for 1979, 1980 & 1981, the last of which was a shortened strike year (at least we're not having to put up with that BS again)


1979: 153G-155H-5HR-95BB-39K-.270BA

1980: 138G-151H-7HR-119BB-45K-.294BA

1981: 93G-81H-2HR-57BB-24K-.232BA


Thanks once again George Herman for showing us the biggest weapon in our tool-boxes.

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Eddie Stanky is a prototype. Though for his career he hit .268 with 29 home runs, he led the NL in walks three times, with figures such as 148, 137, 144, and 127. Gene Tenace hit .241, but with a .388 on-base percentage. Just some other names off the top of my head: Eddie Yost, Miller Huggins, everyone playing in 1950.

Some players just have an incredible eye. Eddie Yost was nicknamed "The Walking Man" Led the league in walks 6 times and had a career .394 OBP, while batting .254.

Yost is a great example. In 1956 he batted .231 and had a .336 slugging percentage, and somehow he was still able to coax out 151 walks, to the tune of a .412 OBP.

With advanced analytics, scouting, and a more defined strike zone, I can't imagine that would be even remotely possible in today's game.

Wes Westrum had similar season & he was also a catcher. In 1951 he had 104 walks, 79 hits & 20 HRs.

Often times, an intentional walk is given because of the situation and not fear of the hitter. Take a turtle like Westrum. 10 SB in his entire career (probably on the back end of double-steals.)

You have a runner at third with one out. Instead of playing your infield in, giving the hitter more opportunity, walk the turtle to set up an inning ending DP, and let your infielders play back in their normal spots.

Speaking of Intentional Walks:
 

I was researching a question for someone on facebook: Did Bob Uecker actually hit a home run against Sandy Koufax?

My initial answer was that I'd have to check but I knew Uecker claimed one of the greatest achievements of his career was to get an intential walk from Koufax.

BBR provided the detail:

On July 24, 1965, Uecker got a single first time up against Sandy, then homered the second time up. He was actually walked intentionally the third time up...so both where true.

Both of Uecker's 1965 homers were off HOFers- the first on May 5 off Gaylord Perry.

Of his 14 career homers, three were off HOFers, the other coming off Fergie Jenkins.

Glad I checked...didn't know all that.


excuse me for going slightly off topic...


Grandal was 0-4, with one walk and two strikeouts today

Up-to-Date Stats:

.157BA/.398OBP/.409SLG

46G-127AB-31R-20H-10HR-23RBI-51BB-49K
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