Stats Geek and such

IT'S THE BASE RUNNERS, STUPID!!!

That's the basic summary of today's Stats Geek column. Our problem is not clutch hitting, it's just getting people on base. Once we get them there, we score them. We just don't get there nearly as often as we should. I thought Gerald Perry was supposed to be some kind of guru when it comes to teaching guys how to take pitches and walk and just get on base in general (team OBPs of .360, .361, and .350 in three years as Mariners hitting coach), but I've seen no real evidence of that so far. Of course he may be hampered by our former hitting coach/current manager who lead the Pirates to 10th, 16th, 13th, and 9th place finishes in the NL in OBP during his four year run as hitting coach. Then again, it's hard to teach people to walk more often, so it could just be a sign that Dave Littlefield and Cam Bonifay ignore on-base percentage and taking pitches simply isn't something that's taught very well in our organization. In which case it means things won't be getting better any time soon.