FanPost

Eric Chavez--Is Patience A Virtue?

Although I'm not always against first-pitch swinging, perhaps Chavy's ANTI-Moneyball approach is failing.  I heard him explain it on a Jim Rome interview earlier this year; he said he just doesn't like taking that many pitches.

Nevertheless, look at the numbers during Chavez's patient year (last year) vs. his impatient year (this year).  That would seem to show that Moneyball suits him better after all:

2004  475 ABs, 95 BBs, 99 Ks, 29 HRs
2005  532 ABs, 50 BBs, 113 Ks, 22 HRs

But then, maybe that's not the problem.  Upon futher perusing of his stats, I came across the stat # of pitches per plate appearance:

In '04 he saw 4.05 pitches per plate appearance, a career high.  This year he's seeing 3.93 pitches per plate appearance--less than last year but still the SECOND HIGHEST figure for his career.  In other words, if any year represented an abnormal approach for Chavez's career, it was '04--and indeed, in no other season did he come anywhere close to the 99 walks he drew in '04 ... his second-highest walk total ever came in 2000 when he walked 62 times.

What does it all mean?  I have no idea.