Working the count not always best
Stat geeks claim there’s nothing more important than taking a lot of pitches. They’d love every hitter to be Scott Hatteberg.
While that works for some players, others thrive when more aggressive. Take KJ. According to Bill James, when Kelly saw three pitches or fewer in 2008, he batted almost 200 points higher than when he saw more than three pitches.
Coming into Sunday’s play, the Braves are batting .414 when they put the first pitch in play. With two strikes, they’re hitting .176 (13-for-74).
While I’m not advocating mindless hacking, working the count ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
–CB
I know I’m happy to see Frenchy hitting balls to right field.
I laugh every time I see CB’s pal Dunn walk, greivousy clogging up the basepaths, but getting an inevitable “attaboy!” from one of the announcers.