During an interview with online-only writers this weekend I had the opportunity to ask frequent walk-off HR hitter and left fielder Josh Willingham a question, so I decided to see what he had to say about his seemingly increased patience at the plate in 2010. The 31-year-old outfielder's posted a .277/.425/.497 slash line so far this season, and he's on the top of the list of eligible NL left fielders in nearly every stat category Fangraphs.com covers for hitters, with a 17.5 BB% (1st), 1.11 BB/K (1st), .923 OPS (2nd), .220 ISO (2nd), and .411 wOBA (1st). If you know what I just wrote there, you might be impressed, I have no idea, so I phrased my question a little more simply:
Federal Baseball: Josh, there's seems to be a jump in your walk totals and OBP so far in 2010, have you made any change in your approach at the plate this year?
Josh Willingham: "No, there's not been a different approach by me. I think when I'm hitting the ball well, I'm drawing my walks because I'm being selective and trying to get a pitch to drive. Also, you know you're going to go through phases during the course of a 162-game year where you're not drawing walks and probably a little too overly aggressive or whatever, but when I'm at my best offensively, I'm getting on base and drawing walks and being selective at the plate, and, you know, with two strike, laying off the pitch that a lot of times you swing at when you're not going so well, so I think it's a good sign when I'm walking a lot."