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IMO, the Bavasi era showed a nearly pathalogical preference for "Ichiro type" players.  Aggressive, modest K, low walk contact guys.
I really get the sense that if you fanned 90-100 times in the low minors, they assumed no way could you ever succeed in the majors, even if you cut your K rate in half further up the chain.
I said many times that it felt like every player they promoted from 2005 on was some larval form of Ichiro.  I honestly think the organizational imperative was 'natural' contact hitting.
Lopez, Yuni, Reed ... were all 50 K per season guys in the low minors.  The only exceptions I can really find would be Wlad ... who sort of inherited the 'top spec' spot from Adam Jones, after the club dealt him away.  And Clement.  Of course, Wlad and Clement showed up when the Bavasi era was already in its death throes.  Then again, they extended Joh for 3 years, so it's hard to see that there was any real organizational enthusiasm for Clement either.
I think Matt nailed it --- they believed in the athlete above the ball player --- completely missing that Ichiro was a ball player, who just happens to be an athlete, too.  Not the other way around.