The Phillies have gone four consecutive games without drawing a walk (that streak ended tonight when Jaime Garcia walked Chase Utley), and they’re also on a four-game losing streak. Coincidence? They haven’t scored more than three runs in a game since April 10 (another streak that has ended tonight). Though season previews for the team across the print and digital media predicted the Phillies would have offensive issues, GM Ruben Amaro is shocked -- shocked! -- that his team isn’t drawing walks.
Via Kevin Tresolini:“I think it’s ridiculous that we’ve had no walks in three days,” general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. “I cannot believe it. More importantly, it’s about not just walks, but producing, and we haven’t done that. We haven’t gotten hits, period. We haven’t gotten hits with runners in scoring position, we haven’t gotten hits to lead off innings.
“We need more people on base and more offensive production. You’ve got to give some credit to the pitchers, but not all of it. We just need to be better. It’s as simple as that. Right now we’re not.’’
Let’s ignore that the Phillies are actually hitting .278 with runners in scoring position, which ranks seventh out of 15 teams. On 97.5 The Fanatic back in January, Amaro famously said, “I don’t care about walks; I care about production.” As many studies have shown, however, on-base percentage is very heavily correlated with run-scoring (production). Most front offices across baseball have acknowledged this fact, but the Phillies are proudly one of the few remaining teams without a real analytics department.
If you want to know how the Phillies have squandered so many wonderful opportunities since 2009, it’s because they’re still operating under the 1960’s baseball zeitgeist.