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Royals Review

Who Will Have a Higher Walk Rate in 2012: Moose or Hosmer?

Jeff wrote about Hosmer's walk rate last week, noting that Eric Hosmer's low BB totals are perhaps, just a little bit, something to keep an eye on.

Hosmer and Mike Moustakas have been mentioned in the same sentence since Hosmer was drafted, and the long held assumption was that Hosmer was the more polished hitter, the more patient hitter. From the beginning really Moose has been fairly aggressive and there have been concerns about this playing out at the Major League level as a problem.

Interestingly, Hosmer and Moose posted identical walk rates of 6% in 2012, and when you factor in IBBs (Hosmer had 7, Moose had none) you actually have Moose rating better in this regard.

Jumping off of our discussion from last week, let's talk about your expectations for Moose and his patience in 2012, and if he or Hosmer will have a higher walk rate.

Poll
Who will have a higher walk rate in 2012?
Eric Hosmer
402 votes
Mike Moustakas
67 votes

469 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  49 comments

Comments

Moose will get pit he’d around to face LoCain whereas homer has Frenchy and moose as protection, provided you can Frenchy protection….

Uhh.

…What?

If you're older than 8, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Please.

I understood it totally.

Both of them had better post a better walk rate next year

because we ain’t goin’ nowhere with a bunch of low OBP guys.

We are going somewhere with a bunch of leadership guys
besides, this team values OBP
Old Boring People?
Ostrich Beating Prudes?
Obtuse Beatnik Pandas?
Obstreporous Blog Posters
Obedient Benign Patrons
Ones who Buy Poptarts
OMG BETANCOURT PLUS-HANDS!
This isn't really a question.

If Moose has a higher walk rate, I’ll eat a well done steak (this is a “tough” thing to do).

If Moose has a lower walk rate, I'll eat some steak tartare (because it will be a "rare" thing)
We're going to need better seasons out of them next year

than this year, if we’re going to compete with Detroit.

Other than the use-words-sparingly comment above,

who voted for Moose? I’m leaning Hos, based on their track records, but I’m interested to hear the other side.

I see hosmer as being under pressure to drive in runs

While moose will be able to be more patient / will see fewer pitches hitting near getz etx

It would be a strange (but possible) outcome if their walk rates flipped at the ML level

Hypothetically speaking: Hos feels like he can hit any pitch and has protection in the lineup while Moose has to be more selective, either b/c he doesn’t feel confident that he can chase every pitch or b/c he is being pitched around due to batting 7th/8th.

I really don't see a lineup configuration that would/should have Moose hitting lower than 6th

Even still, it’ll be interesting to see. I still think Hosmer will walk more based off of ability, though.

Yeah, this is a team that will be fielding

Alcides Escobar, Lorenzo Cain, Giavotella/Yuni/Getz, and Salvador Perez. I don’t see any realistic way that Moustakas isn’t batting fifth or sixth pretty regularly.

they're gonna hit gia two hole...you know that...

gordon, gia, hosmer, butler, frenchy, cain, moose, perez, escobar….thats possible

I don't see why Cain wouldn't be below Moose.
I think the Royals are going to the playoffs, because there's technically a chance of that happening.
I haven't seen a poll this one-sided

since we re-signed Yuni.

It was designed to Unify the fan base

going into Spring Training

Fun Fact:

Out of Moose, Hosmer, and Butler, Moose has the highest SLG of any of their minor league seasons (.630 total in 2010). However, his highest walk total—43 in 2008—trails Butler’s highest minor walk total (57 in 2004) and Hosmer’s (59 in 2010).

This seems to suggest that Moose is not prone to walk as much as either Butler does or Hosmer will. However, I didn’t expect Butler’s minor league line to be as absurd as it was (.336/.416/.561).

It's easy to forget how great Butler was in the minors.

And that .630 SLG certainly wasn’t hurt by his 36 HRs.

I voted Hos

just based on what little I’ve seen of him. He seems to have a pretty good idea of the strike zone. I wonder what his heat map looks like for called strikes as I always assume umpires don’t give rookie hitters any credit for knowing the zone and call the close/marginal pitches strikes. Maybe once Hos establishes his reputation for knowing the zone, he’ll get more calls in his favor.

He seems to have incredible plate coverage

Like he can hit any pitch that’s even close to the plate and hit it hard unlike any hitter I’ve seen in KC.

Are you forgetting Monsieur Froggy?
The Stuff Up

In his eyes was a problem for a bit, but he seemed to figure that out fairly quickly.

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