Add new comment

I was looking for information about minor league bb% as an indicator for MLB success. Ran across a study that showed burnouts as having only 3% less MiL BB's on average than the successful MLB Players in the pool. 18.5% higher strikeout rate if you want to talk about that. This puts into question whether making decisions of a minor leaguer's chances based even somewhat on his BB% is a good idea. Saying that's the reason they won't be [pick an adjective] doesn't seem reasonable in that light.
Sorry about the lazy link, but if you want to read that study: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2011/4/22/2123847/the-significance-of-min...
Another interesting thing I noticed is that Peterson doesn't appear to be the RHB that many are claiming. In 2013 he had a .994 OPS vs RHP and he's put up .993 OPS vs RH so far this year. No, not LHP.
Vs LHP in 2013 he hit only .664 OPS, .868 so far this year. This is also where his walks are really lacking, not that he's been doing great against righties with free passes either. We're talking about few PA, but that may be a part of the problem. If he needs more exposure to LHP to figure them out, just how much can he improve with how much experience? Because .990's OPS vs RH as RH. I mean...shouldn't that change how we view him? Is he a reverse platoon split or an absolute monster once he figures out lefties?
Something else to consider always is that walks are essentially decided by an imperfect human and presumably more so in the case of lower minor league umps. With pitching this is starting to be talked about more but it applies to hitters as well. High K/ low BB isn't entirely up to the players eye, but also the pairs behind him.