In the box score, they don’t even show up as an official “At-Bat.” Instead, they are called “Plate Appearances.” The reason is that when baseball scorekeeping was invented (for lack of a better word) over a century ago, a base on balls (BB) – more commonly called “a walk” – has always been considered a pitching statistic, not a batting statistic. But make no mistake about it, good (or great) hitters are exceptionally skilled at “working out a walk,” as they say.

Several Dodgers batters are exceptionally skilled at “working out a walk,” a few of whom with less than two years of major league experience.

In the third inning of Tuesday night’s 7-0 shutout win over the Colorado Rockies at Dodger Stadium, 26-year-old Dodgers catcher Will Smith had a great at-bat (plate appearance); he drew an eight-pitch walk.

“We executed flawlessly. I thought probably the best at-bat of the night was the Will Smith walk on the 3-2 slider,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters during his Zoom media session following Tuesday night’s game.

That eight-pitch Smith walk, issued by Rockies right-hander Antonio Senzatela, included three foul balls, with the Dodgers catcher eventually coming around to score on a Rockies throwing error.

A great at-bat (plate appearance) indeed.

In the bottom of the sixth inning of Wednesday night’s exciting 4-2 win over the Rockies, 26-year-old outfielder Luke Raley, appearing in only his third major league game, drew a seven-pitch walk off of Rockies right-hander Tyler Kinley that included two foul balls.

Through their first 10 games of the 2021 season, the Dodgers have drawn 59 walks – tied for most in the MLB with the San Diego Padres and including a team-high 11 by Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy.

To what does Roberts attribute these very significant walk numbers?

“They’re just good baseball players. They’re competing, their prepared,” Roberts answered.” confidently.

Keep on walking, boys!

Play Ball!

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