May 22, 200817 yr Crede has .352 obp and 14 bb. His career obp is .307 and career high waks is 34. Does he have a different approach this year?
May 22, 200817 yr He's seeing the same number of P/PA as the last two years (08: 3.68, 07: 3.70, 06: 3.67), yet seems to be drawing a bunch more walks. I don't know what to attribute his increase walk rate though, it's interesting to see.
May 22, 200817 yr I think the big difference is his two strike approach. He isn't afraid to take a little off of the swing, wait back a little longer, and try to foul off bad pitches if necesary. Sometimes it gets him hits like last night.
May 22, 200817 yr Author QUOTE (Cali @ May 22, 2008 -> 12:48 PM) Contract Year obp doesnt land anyone a big contract
May 22, 200817 yr It definitely isn't increased patience at the plate as he's seeing a similar number of P/PA this year as he has in the past (as Felix pointed out.) I'd chalk it up to better plate discipline with the count full. So far this season he's walked 11 times on 3-2 counts in '06 he only drew a walk 9 times with a full count and 10 times in '05.
May 22, 200817 yr He's definitely been more patient. Another factor is Crede has had people like Uribe and now Swisher hitting behind him all year, and with Joe's hot start and general good work at the plate this year, people would much rather walk Joe to get to those guys who aren't hitting. However, Joe deserves kudos for taking the walks, something he hasn't done in the past. He also seems to be doing a better job with two strikes. In the past, he'd always tend to pop up two strike pitches to the right side for easy outs, but this year a lot more of these pop ups are foul balls into the stands, keeping the at bat alive and leading to him seeing more pitches, balls, and walks. Edited May 22, 200817 yr by whitesoxfan101
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