Stats4Gnats posted:roothog66 posted: Yeah, but they don't hurt you like a hit. I'd rather my pitcher have a higher walk rate and low OBA than the opposite. With a guy on second, it takes three walks to bring him in, but only one hit.
There’s very little chance every ball hit will result in the batter reaching base, but with walks it’s a guarantee.
Over the years, 36% of the 5,446 hits I’ve scored have scored. Over the same period of time, of the 3521 BBs and HBPs I’ve scored, 37% have scored. Seems to me the odds are a lot better in making the batters hit their way on than giving them a free pass.
You just quoted a statistic that shows the results as practically dead even and then say the odds are "a lot better." Of course, I'm also not talking about the average. I'm talking about comparing say, a pitcher who walks 6/9ip but only gives up a .115 OBA vs. a guy who only walks 1/9ip, but allows opponents to hit .380 against him. I'll take the first guy. But, again, not talking about average players either way. I think , for the average, your stat shows that there's little significant difference in the long run, except for (probably) the affect on pitch counts.