Commentary : Why Good Hitters Get Bad Pitches

Atlanta’s two-time MVP Dale Murphy had an idea what he’d be facing in 1987.

The Braves’ outfielder, considered one of the best hitters in the major leagues, earlier had enjoyed what he called “the protection” of having slugging first baseman Bob Horner in the lineup. With Horner gone to Japan, Murphy didn’t think he’d be seeing the same type of pitches anymore.

“Nope, thought they’d walk me more or at least I wouldn’t see any more fastballs,” Murphy explained.

Murphy was right. Without another big bat in the lineup, teams were pitching around the slugging right fielder. The philosophy is now commonplace in the major leagues: it is better to give up a walk or even a base hit then let a team’s big bat burn you.

Murphy has found the going tough since Horner left. By an average player’s standards, he is having a good year. By Murphy’s standards, he isn’t having the type of year he had when Horner was around to “protect” him.

If 1987 is the year of the hitter, it is also the year of the pitch-around. Teams that don’t have anyone to “protect” their main hitter are likely to find clubs constantly pitching around their slugger.

In the case of the St. Louis Cardinals, it has had a positive effect. Jack Clark, who missed a large part of the 1986 season due to an injury, got off to a great first half start and had 86 RBIs and 26 homers at the All-Star break.

“We saw it last year. Without Clark in the lineup, the other team’s pitchers just came up and challenged our other guys and it worked,” says St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog. “With Clark in there, they can try to pitch around him because he’s our only power hitter. But sometimes it doesn’t work.”

Teams that don’t want to challenge Clark can walk him. Like Murphy, Clark has been in the top five in walks in the National League all season.

St. Louis has been able to combat the strategy with the return of Willie McGee. McGee, who had 50 RBI all last year, surpassed that figure in mid-June.

“Teams want to walk Clark? Fine, as long as we’ve got a McGee who is going to hit them in,” Herzog says. “If McGee doesn’t do the job, then the strategy makes sense.”

Baltimore’s Eddie Murray has been able to avoid the “pitched around” strategy since the arrival of Cal Ripken Jr.

On the negative side, the Chicago White Sox discovered that teams were able to pitch around their No. 1 hitter and keep the Sox in trouble. Harold Baines, who began the year on the disabled list, returned to the lineup in May. But the player who had been protecting Baines the past two years, first baseman Greg Walker, was off to a slow start.

“It really hurt. Teams could pitch around Baines all they wanted because the other guys, including Greg, weren’t doing the job,” says Chicago Manager Jim Fregosi. “One guy can’t do it all. The other teams scout us and they knew that.”

In Houston, Glenn Davis had a career power year last year. Pitchers started to pitch around him this year and Davis found himself going after bad pitches. His power statistics dropped. The theory worked for the first part of the year.

On the other side of Chicago, the Cubs discovered in 1986 that teams were able to pitch around their cleanup man, Leon Durham, because the lower end of the lineup wasn’t doing the job. Durham, the club’s only left-handed power hitter, found himself going after bad pitches and swinging at balls in order to over-compensate.

Then Chicago signed Andre Dawson and suddenly Durham regained his stroke.

“It’s no coincidence. A team that wants to pitch around Dawson will have to face me. That’s fine by me,” Durham says.

Manager Gene Michael, who discounts the fact Durham is having a better year because of the fast start by Dawson, admits Dawson won’t see the same type of pitching Durham does.

“Teams are willing to take their chances with other guys and don’t want to get burned by throwing Andre Dawson a fastball and have him hit a home run,” Michael says.

Eric Davis of Cincinnati is facing a similar situation at Cincinnati. Teams would rather walk Davis or allow him to get a single rather than have him take them deep. Davis, unlike some of the other burly power hitters in the majors, can often defuse the strategy because of his base stealing ability. While Clark or Baines will likely stay at first with a walk, Davis is capable of turning a walk into a triple with a couple of stolen bases.

In addition, Davis has Dave Parker to “protect” him. Clubs that don’t want to deal with Davis must deal with Parker. The result: Davis gets better pitches than he would have if Parker weren’t wearing a Reds’ uniform.

The strategy isn’t new. Philadelphia’s Mike Schmidt annually is among the leaders in walks because the Phils haven’t had a true cleanup man to protect Schmidt since Greg Luzinski left.

“It’s true that other teams pitch around Mike. Sometimes he burns them,” says Manager John Felske. “But not many teams can come up with anyone to protect a player the quality of a Mike Schmidt.”

Sometimes a player comes out of nowhere and teams don’t adopt the pitch-around philosophy in enough time. Like Jose Canseco of Oakland and Wally Joyner last year and Oakland’s Mark McGwire and George Bell of Toronto this year.