Stat Guy: Doolittle: Royals offense lacks discipline at plate

Outside we wait ‘til face turns Royals blue
I know the nervous walking…

If you want an offense built around plate discipline, it has to be an organizational mandate. Consider the A’s, who have minimum walk-rate requirements for developing hitters at the lower levels of their organization.

The Royals actually have a polar opposite development philosophy. Dayton Moore has said that he believes a player needs to swing the bat to learn the strike zone. As the player learns which pitches he can’t hit, he’ll lay off those pitches and the walks will increase. That’s the theory anyway.

Let’s take a trip around the diamond.

Ross Gload and Mark Grudzielanek are high-contact, low-walk guys who need a high batting average to justify their place in the lineup. Tony Peña is starting to make people cite Angel Berroa’s numbers in Omaha. That’s frightening. John Buck is fairly patient but is so inconsistent at making contact that he’s unlikely to post a decent on-base percentage. Miguel Olivo is a wild swinger who struck out 123 times last season and drew only 14 walks. We’ve covered Guillen. Joey Gathright has drawn one walk this season.

The Royals do have some players with a semblance of patience. There just aren’t enough of them.