Marco...

As of last night, the current MLB leaders in walks are:

1. Jason Bay (23)
2. Marco Scutaro (22)
3. Adam Dunn (20)
4. Manny Ramirez (19)
5. Albert Pujols (17)

If this blog were a standardized test, I would be asking you "which object does not belong?"

How does Marco Scutaro, a guy who has never eclipsed 76 R or 57 BB, have 23 R and 22 BB through April? His 9.2% career walk rate has exploded this year; Scutaro is drawing a free pass a little over 20% of the time. Did he get lasik eye surgery? Did he McGwiritize his swing? Are pitchers respecting the almighty power of Scutaro's bat? No, no and no again.

This isn't a case of any pitcher respecting Scutaro's hitting abilities, but him simply not swing the bat anymore. He's cut down his already low O-Swing rate by 15% compared to last season and is swinging at 12% less pitches than he normally does. There's really no reason for pitchers to throw any intentional outside pitches to Scutaro this season, as he's shaved his line drive rate by a full 9% (converting all of those ex-line drives into routine pop ups -- his GB% remains unchanged) and never carried an OPS over .750 in his career (in fact, it's only once been over .701).

Do you expect this trend to continue or will pitchers catch on to Scutaro, a career .260 hitter with a .120 ISO, and his swingless ways and start throwing him more pitches in a the zone?