Walk This Way!!!!

For those of you who followed the Brewers closely last year, weren't you constantly wishing the Crew had a player or two who could slap singles to all fields or who walked a ton in order to set the table for some of the big boppers (Fielder, Braun, Hart, Hardy)? It seemed as though the Brewer's hitters were all or nothing... a towering SOLO shot or a strikeout. And those strikeouts...what killers. When a player strikes out, it is such a huge loss. The runners on base don't advance, and the defense is not forced to make a play on either a ground ball or a fly ball. Anything can happen when a ball is put into play. I remember listening to a game earlier this year when the Brewers had two outs and Corey Hart was at the plate. He hit a grounder to the infield and it was bobbled, so he reached first on the error. The next batter hit a two run home run. This was a glaring example of how strikeouts can be killers, and putting the ball into play is so important.

Again, putting the ball into play is critical, but so are bases on balls or walks to the lay-person. Working the count and getting walks is important in driving up the pitch count of opposing pitchers, having runners on base forces the defense to react differently, and more men on base means more runs when the one of the Brewers jacks a ding dong. Looking at this year vs last year it is almost night and day in terms of the amount of walks the Brewers are taking. Let's look at a few examples:

The Brewers are second in the majors with 175 walks as a team. The top 5 teams in order are:

LA Dodgers 186
Mil Brewers 175
Wash Nationals 167
Bos Red Sox 166
NY Mets 165

By comparison, the Brewers as a team had 550 walks all of last season. Projecting this years stats over 161 game season, the Crew would end up with 742 walks, a 35% increase over last year.

What do all of these teams above have in common? Well, the Dodgers and Brewers each lead their respective divisions, while the Red Sox and Mets are 2nd in their respective divisions. The Nationals, well....

Of course walks do not determine championship teams, but they certainly help.

Here are some of the Brewer's individual players who are showing a lot more plate discipline this year:


Player, Total Walks Last Year, Walks This Year (38 Games)

Ryan Braun 42, 23
Prince Fielder 84, 34
Mike Cameron 54, 25
Corey Hart 27, 19

Let's also take a look at the most recent series the Brewers played in St. Louis (a 3 game sweep):

The Brewers won game 1, 1-0 (4 Walks, 2 Hits)
The Brewers won game 2, 8-2 (8 Walks, 7 Hits)
The Brewers won game 3, 8-4 (11 Walks, 8 Hits)

The Crew had 23 Walks and 17 Hits in the 3 game series. Pretty impressive!

Well, the Brewers just beat the Astros 4-2 as I am finishing writing this post. That's 7 in a row for the Crew, and 21-5 in their last 26. Amazing!!!! They are on fire, and it is so fun to be a part of.


BCBB