Braun has stopped drawing walks

[DougJones43]

Here is a breakdown of Ryan Braun's BB totals, by month:

 

April: 14

May: 12

June: 9

July: 5

August: 0

 

He has drawn NO walks in his last 47 plate apperances, and only 7 walks in his last 179 PA. What gives? I don't really like to see a hitter with Braun's capabilities regressing when it comes to something as important as OBP.

[zzzmanwitz]

I'm not a big proponent of "protection," but from a spectator's point of view, it sure seems like Braun has been getting a lot of strikes over the last few months.

 

According to FanGraphs, He's swinging a lot less this year and making contact at a higher rate when swinging, so I can't really complain about his approach at the plate. His OPS has jumped about 60 points this year and he seems to have a better approach overall. I'll take it.

[JohnBriggs12]

Pitchers are picking their poison. They are attacking Braun more, because they don't want to put guys on in front of Fielder. Braun has 9 RBI in 8 games this month. What hurt in July is that he only drove in 13 runs the entire month. As he continues driving in runs and makes teams pay for pitching to him, then he'll garner more walks.

[Invader3K]

Maybe he's distracted by his duties as a deputy... Seriously though...I had a sense this topic would be coming up soon enough on this forum. I don't really know what to say. It's not like he's really slumping. He's hitting just under .320 with a .390 OBP. .951 OPS. It seems like the standard criticism of any elite hitter around here is "he doesn't walk enough." He's on pace to easily surpass his walk total from last season. Hopefully he'll simply improve on it as he continues to mature as a player. After all, he's only 25. I'm guessing if some of those walks early in the season were scattered over the past couple months, no one would really be noticing. I do think the point he's probably been seeing more strikes is a good one.

[DougJones43]

He's hitting just under .320 with a .390 OBP. .951 OPS... I'm guessing if some of those walks early in the season were scattered over the past couple months, no one would really be noticing.

Well, that's kind of the point. It's not an issue with his overall season numbers. It's that he was walking like crazy for the first two months of the season, and then just almost stopped completely. Seems strange, and I was wondering if anybody had any theories or observations as to why. Maybe pitchers are just throwing him more strikes and it's as simple as that.

[endaround]

Well he stopped hitting for most of July until he went on a tear the last week.

[RightFieldCoder]

Maybe the book on him was to get him to swing off the plate. The first two months, he showed he'd matured to not take those pitches. Pitchers stopped throwing so many balls outside, lowering his walk total. Also, if he's going good he won't swing through strikes and will put more balls in play. From a layman scout's point of view, I would say the book is to throw junk right on the inside corner. He seems to look outside fastball and lets the inside junk go. More called strikes equals less walks. We also benefit because a junk pitch thrown a little over the plate will get walloped into play by Braun.

 

He would also draw more walks if umps wouldn't ring him up on pitches several inches off the plate to end a game.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Less inclined to be patient at the plate when the team sucks and he knows he and Fielder are by far the best chance at driving in any runs. That's how I see it. The steady decline month-to-month seems to support that theory.

[pitchleague]

I suppose one could theorize that he's beginning to press at the plate and try to drive in runs rather than set up Fielder. Maybe the pressing comes from his comments about the team last month and he's trying to do something about it.

 

I'm grasping here, of course, but who knows?

[Menotti80]

Less inclined to be patient at the plate when the team sucks and he knows he and Fielder are by far the best chance at driving in any runs. That's how I see it. The steady decline month-to-month seems to support that theory.

this was exactly my thought. he and fielder have to carry the entire team. i would try ot be the hero during every at bat too, expecially in the 7th and 8th innings, knowing he probably wont get another AB...

[dadofandrew]

He's been swinging at a lot of pitches early in the count. Is he not thrilled about walking? Possibly, but unless he swings at bad pitches, and produces like he is, who cares?

[BrewCrewForever]

Yeah, walking less. But still an OBP in the .390's. I will take that. Not to mention he is hitting .319. Braun has had another stellar season.