You also have to remember that several good hitters really help out poorer ones. When you have dangerous hitters like Austin Cousino, AJ Reed, and Max Kuhn the opponents are not going to give them great stuff to hit. They would rather walk those guys, especially the two latter ones. So, the hitters after those players are often times going to get better pitches. This year we have some dangerous guys, but none that other teams worry about in terms of home run power. I mean, Shelby leads the team with just 5 freaking homers. We finished last year with 60 home runs and this year we have just 19. So, pitchers aren't too afraid to go after any batter in the lineup. So, someone like Wilson may not be seeing the same pitches he did last year. Last year Reed and Kuhn were probably getting more pitches on the outside and more junk. When they were walked, which happened 49 times to Reed and 43 to Kuhn, the opposing pitcher would then need to throw strikes to ensure they weren't walking more batters and putting people in scoring position. So, they'd throw more fastballs and wouldn't work the corners as much. They would also try much harder to get the guys in the bottom of the lineup out before getting back to the top where Cousino, Kuhn, and Reed could really hurt them, so they didn't want to give up walks to the bottom and would throw more strikes, and likely in the form of fastballs. This year the pitchers don't have to change their approach for anyone in particular, unless it is based upon a scouting report that a certain person can only hit fastballs and such.
