Boston Red Sox - Drew still doesn’t know what to do - The Boston Globe

The following quote hits on Drew’s biggest problem. Patience is good, passivity is not. Time after time I’ve watched Drew take fastballs down the middle early in counts and then end up swinging at something he can’t handle when he gets to two strikes. The problem with his approach is readily apparent when you contrast his at bats with David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Although, like all hitters, they sometimes take and swing at pitches they shouldn’t, Drew seems to take more hittable strikes than both of them combined.

I’d be very interested to know what the numbers say. Unfortunately, I don’t get this type of data and, even if I did, don’t have time to run the numbers myself. Nevertheless, in this age of Internet miracles, I hope one of my pals over at The Hardball Times will read this post, take at look at the data, and let us know what the numbers say.

Another criticism of Drew is that he’s been too selective at the plate. One of the reasons general manager Theo Epstein and his staff were so enamored with Drew was his .393 on-base percentage entering the season. Drew seems to take that patience a little too far, often seeming passive and letting good pitches go by without offering, especially when the team needs a big hit.

“At points, you can be [too selective] but sometimes your at-bat isn’t what you want it to be and you go back and watch it and you have a pitch that gets called a strike that’s a ball and you see it again and you’re right, it’s a ball,” Drew said. “That happens to everybody, but you have to be aggressive on the pitch you’re looking for. [Joba Chamberlain] throws me a fastball at 98 miles per hour Tuesday night on the black. Well, I’m looking for a pitch I can do something with. I swing at that and I’m going to have a broken bat and pop up somewhere. But that’s the kind of hitter I am: I know exactly what I’m looking for.”