One of the most misunderstood and underrated offensive weapons in baseball is the WALK! At a young age, hitters who walk are often labeled as “afraid to swing” or “unaggressive” at the plate but in reality, they may just have a great eye for the strike zone. At times it seems that coaches in youth baseball try to coach hitters into an aggressive mindset and away from taking pitches. By doing this, coaches are inadvertently conditioning hitters to believe that walks are a product of the umpires decision making rather than a skill to be developed and refined. Walks are often treated as “luck” and treated as a failure of the pitcher rather than as a credit to the skill of the hitter.
There are few things MORE devastating for an opposing pitching staff than compiling high number of walks and the details below explain the point more in depth.
2024 NLCS as a referendum for the importance of walks and scoring runs.
This article posted on MLB.com about the Dodgers record setting propensity for generating walks in the NLCS makes a calculated argument for how the Dodgers made a plan revolving around NOT CHASING balls and how the Dodgers stuck to that plan to not only generate walks, but to generate hard hit balls.
As referenced, the Dodgers knew the METS walked more batters than any other pitching staff in the MLB in 2024. The Dodgers also walked more than any other team in the MLB in 2024. The recipe was disastrous for the Mets pitchers who THRIVE on making opposing hitters chase pitches out of the zone to generate weak contact. But how did the Dodgers generate so many walks and how can this skill be harvested?
How to GENERATE WALKS
Cut down on Chase rate (pitches thrown outside the strike zone)
To do this, hitters must understand on a 0 and 1 strike count exactly what pitches they are looking for and trying to hit. By utilizing advance scouting or simple in game pitcher tendencies, hitters can develop a plan revolving around what location within the strikezone and what speed / movement they are going to look for. Once a hitter knows what pitches and locations they are likely to see, hitters can sync up their swing timing to the pitch they are looking for to maximize hard contact rate
Develop a swing that allows for opposite field pop and the barrel in the hitting zone for longer
As baseball players climb up the rungs of the talent ladder, pitches get nastier and move later. Developing a swing that allows the hitter to keep the barrel in the hitting zone longer and mechanics that allow for opposite field pop makes hitter less susceptible to chase pitches out of the zone. If a hitter is comfortable knowing that they can “sit” on an offspeed pitch and still hit it with authority to the opposite field or that a hitter can make deep contact on a fastball and drive it oppo, that hitter will be able to be more relaxed at the plate and hit with more confidence. To utilize this approach hitters will also need to learn how to be on time for a fastball yet stay in their linear drive phase of the swing in the event that an offspeed pitch is thrown when a hitter is NOT “sitting” on an offspeed pitch. We call this technique making a lower half adjustment. Lower half adjustments, especially in pitcher advantage counts, allows for more successful outcomes in at bats.
Pick up the pitch as early as possible
Seeing the ball out of the pitchers hand as early as possible is paramount to not chasing pitches out of the strike zone. With mere milliseconds to read ball flight and spin, ascertaining as much information as possible from the ball assists the hitter with predicting whether or not the pitch will land out of the strike zone. The brain is an amazing tool that utilizes its internal “radar” to predict where a ball will land after seeing the ball travel for just a few feet. The more a hitter practices against live arm pitches the better a hitter will be come at not chasing. This happens because the more reps the brain takes vs live pitches, the faster the brain becomes at predicting where balls will land and these predictions become more accurate over time.
Why walks win
1. Walks win because they cause physical stress on the pitcher. Physical stress decreases performance over the course of the game eventually weakening a pitchers body as cited in the articles below. Over the course of a series like the NLCS, this type of workload can really take a toll on a pitching staff and bullpen paying large dividends as the series drags on.
2. Walks win because they cause mental stress on a pitcher. A pitchers concentration becomes divided as runners reach base. Pitchers have to worry about managing the running game as well as throwing the actual pitch. When this happens, it becomes a challenge to “nibble” and misses on pitches out of the strike zone become more likely. An aggressive running game can really make a pitcher feel uncomfortable and throw off a pitchers timing / clock. Making a pitcher feel mentally uncomfortable is a large step towards earning more free bases.
3. Walks win because they create more “hittable” pitches. When a hitter refuses to chase pitches out of the zone, it forces pitchers to make more “hittable” pitches. Over the long run, a team wide strategy of refusing to chase borderline pitches ultimately benefits every hitter in the lineup by either granting opportunities to hit with runners in scoring position or raising the chances of seeing a pitch that a hitter can do more damage with.
2024 - Championship Hitting - Chris Turco