Passing the Blame for the Dreaded Walk

Oh, those bases on balls!

Pitchers hate them. Umpires hate them. Even the Queen of England walked out.

So then, why is this season turning into the biggest Walk-A-Thon in history?

“I think it’s the pitching. It’s gone downhill,” umpire Drew Coble said. “Everyone wants to nibble. No one wants to throw strikes.”

Pitchers, naturally, say its bad umpiring. But many on both sides of the plate think the situation will get worse before it gets better, especially with expansion further diluting the pitching pool.

Pity Philadelphia’s poor Jose DeJesus. He says he is trying to put the ball over the plate, and still he’s walked 29 batters in 29 1-3 innings.

“It’s because I throw so hard I can’t control the ball,” DeJesus said.

Maybe he has a point. After all, baseball’s all-time walk leader is Nolan Ryan with 2,634. At least Ryan is getting more accurate, and that’s more than can be said for most everyone else.

Here’s how bad it’s become: At the current rate, this year’s walks will make the biggest single-season jump since the last expansion in 1977. By a lot, to nearly 15,000, or roughly 252 miles worth of walks.

It’s particularly bad in the American League. There were 7,631 walks last season in the AL; the record was 7,812 in 1987, the season of the lively ball. But this year, if the projections hold, there will be a whopping 8,293 -- about 7.3 per game, up from last season’s 6.7 average.

The Queen saw five walks in only two innings Wednesday, when she went with President Bush to watch Oakland play at Baltimore. That was too many, and they went home to the White House.

The same night, Boston and Chicago played the longest nine-inning game in AL history. After 4 hours, 11 minutes and nine walks, the Red Sox won 9-6.

“I don’t really know why there have been so many walks,” Boston reliever Jeff Reardon said. “I know I’ve walked six (in 15 2-3 innings), and that’s unusual for me. I don’t think it’s the umpiring. Maybe the pitchers are being more careful. At times, I’ve caught myself doing that, instead of going right after the hitters.”

Kevin Maas, in his first full season in the big leagues, leads the majors with 33 walks. He set home-run records as a rookie last year with the New York Yankees, and is seeing the effects this season.

“I think they’re pitching around me at times. I can feel it,” Maas said. “The pitchers don’t always challenge me, like they used to.”

National League pitchers are behaving the same way. They’re on a pace for 6,493 walks, about 6.68 per game, up from last year’s total of 6,221, about 6.4 per outing.

The Phillies, meanwhile, are on course to walk 772 batters, which would break the record for a 162-game season, set by Cleveland with 770 in 1971.

“Sometimes, as a young pitcher, you get carried away and lose concentration,” Johnny Podres, the Phillies’ first-year pitching coach, said. “Consequently, you walk batters.”

Bobby Witt, never known for his control, is this season’s worst offender. He’s walked 42 in 47 innings for Texas, although Seattle’s Randy Johnson is not much better with 37 walks in 42 2-3 innings.

“I’ve always pitched this way,” said Johnson, who walked six in his no-hitter last season. “Last year, I had 120 walks (in 219 2-3 innings) and I don’t know how many of them scored. This year, it’s a little mechanical problem. There’s no one to blame but myself.”

Catchers, like Bob Geren of the Yankees, have their own explanations.

“You’re seeing a lot more breaking pitches on 3-1 and 3-2 counts, and that’s part of the reason,” Geren said. “Every team seems to have six or seven hitters who can do damage, and you don’t want to throw the ball down the middle of the plate.”

So, what does Geren tell the pitcher when he goes to the mound?

“You hardly ever say, ‘Just throw strikes.’ You don’t want to reinforce negative thoughts,” Geren said. “We use different terminology. You might say, ‘Get ahead of the hitter’ or ‘Don’t be so fine.’ But it means the same thing: Don’t walk him.”

Umpires are taking note of the disturbing trend.

“It’s something we’re very aware of. Games are taking too long,” Coble said. “I don’t know if anyone has talked to the leagues about it, but I’m sure it will come up.

“And they want to expand? I’d be willing to guess games will take an extra 10 to 15 minutes the first year they add the new teams. But there’s nothing we can do. Every game is on TV, and you can’t make yourself look like a jerk. A ball is a ball, even if it’s close.”

Adds umpire Tim Tschida: “You can’t invent strikes.”

For years, there’s been talk that strikes are called differently in the two leagues -- low pitches are strikes in the NL, high pitches are strikes in the AL, many say.

Others, like San Diego pitcher Larry Andersen, claim there’s another difference.

“If they call strikes in (the AL) like they do here, (Rickey Henderson) is not even close to the stolen base record,” Andersen said. “You throw the ball within four inches of the plate and he jumps back and they call it a ball. Umpires won’t call an inside pitch in that league.”

For sure, calls vary from umpire to umpire. Last year, for example, Al Clark of the AL called strikes on 8.8 percent of the full-count pitches that batters did not swing at; Bob Davidson of the NL, meanwhile, called strikes on 26.8 percent of full-count pitchers that hitters let go by.

And of the “automatic” strike on 3-0 pitches--Erig Gregg of the NL called it a strike 76.6 percent of the time, but Don Denkinger of the AL called it a strike just 49.6 percent.

Of course, some of it depends on who’s pitching. If Witt is wild, he won’t get many calls on close pitches, no matter how well his catcher frames the strike zone. But if it’s Dennis Eckersley, it’s different.

Eckersley has walked only seven batters, including one intentionally, in 146 1-3 innings since the start of the 1989 season. He has not walked anyone in 15 1-3 innings this year.

“Maybe it’s his concentration and maybe it’s his mechanics. I’m not really sure,” Oakland catcher Terry Steinbach said. “But I know this: If it was that easy to throw strikes, then everyone would do it. Because no one likes walks.”