What's the rationale behind this?

It's pretty clear that Dayton doesn't understand a lot of the more modern advancements in baseball and that grinding out walks and at-bats is not about being able to hit HR. That's a very antiquated thought process.

Look at the Cardinals... they played in a park that depressed HR totals last year at a rate very similar to the K and still were able to draw a ton of walks. Or the Rays, who led the major leagues in BBs despite playing at the Trop.

Drawing walks is about going to the plate with an approach that accepts a walk and is willing to work two strike counts and foul off pitches on the outside part of the plate until the pitcher gives them something that can be put into play.

A lot of old-school baseball people think you only draw a lot of walks if the opposing team is scared of your home run power.

HR power helps, but is less important than the things I mentioned in my last post.

Wish I'd been there. I would have asked him why, then, were the Orioles - who play in a place that INCREASES HR output substantially - so bad at drawing walks last year, while their division rivals, the Rays - who play in a place that notoriously DECREASES HR output - were so good at it?

Thanks. I'll readily admit I didn't really start watching baseball until last season regularly.

That sort of stuff is totally foreign to me.

Does he think there's something wrong with the K's batter's eye?

Because DM is functionally illiterate when it comes to any form of advanced metrics. Seriously, in some areas of analysis he is truly one stupid mother****er.

I wish the true answer was something like that. But if there was an issue with the batter's eye, they could fix it (and Royals opponents/K park factor would not be so neutral when it comes to walks).

It's slightly below average in terms of BB rate in a park, but not by much.

Pretty clear the Royals have some old school organizational thought that they won't be able to draw walks consistently because they don't have guys who have power to hit the ball out of the yard and therefore be respected and frequently walked.

Jack Maloof was just stupid enough to share those types of comments in a public forum and be made to take the fall for it.

One bright side... at least Grifol is from outside Dayton Moore's Atlanta/Old School brain trust and seems to understand some of the more modern aspects of the game.

Unfortunately, he specifically cited how difficult it is to hit home runs at the K when making the comment.

Oh, for crying out loud.

Sure, if you have a powerful lineup and/or a tiny ballpark that strikes fear in the hearts of your opponent, that might have a small impact on walks, but patient hitters can draw walks anywhere, because pitchers are not going to radically alter how they pitch from game to game. If you have a finesse guy he's always going to aim for the corners wherever he's pitching, and if you have a guy who throws 99 with movement, he's going to pump them into the strike zone regardless of ballpark.

I still can't wait till GMDM is fired

Fever and Hud discussed the lack of walks last year several times on tv. Royals are a HITTING team and don't need no stinking walks

No one walks to a WS win-GMDM

So you are hoping for a bad season so he is fired sooner rather than later?

Def not hoping for a bad season....I just think GMDM does some really stupid shit and his success wont last long.