DownSwinging.com

Ever since the publishing of Moneyball, the general public has seen walks in a better light. People now pay attention more to OBP than before, and (gasp) even some television broadcasts show a player’s OBP right there next to average. While you do hear the “a walk is as good as a hit” phrase a decent amount, I still tend to hear people complaining that players that walk too much never make anything happen for their team. But walks have a serious amount of importance. Not only does it mean getting on base and therefore not making an out, players who walk force pitchers to come back and pitch them strikes the next time around, because the pitcher knows if he doesn’t it will be another walk. While analyzing the effect of a hitters reputation as a “taker” is for someone far smarter than me, I do know this. These are the 12 players with the highest walk rates (min 250 PAs) in the major leagues this year.

1. Lance Berkman, Hou (18.9%)
2. Jim Thome, ChW (18.8)
3. Adrian Gonzalez, SD (18.6)
4. Albert Pujols, StL (18.0)
5. Adam Dunn, Was (17.7)
6. Nick Swisher, NYY (17.1)