Shame on Poz for this one. He gives no context. BP had 20 plate appearances last year where he had an event happen on a 3-1 count. His BABIP in those 20 PAs was .100. So, not only are we dealing with an extremely small sample, but Phillips could have just been incredibly unlucky as well.

Poz also doesn’t point out that Phillips had a .550 OBP with a 3-1 count. And while that’s lower than league average for 3-1 counts, it’s not like he’s incredibly terrible.

Also, his career numbers in a 3-1 count are pretty damn good: .333/.686/.667

Finally, Poz fails to point out that BP batted .300/.576/.550 in at bats that reached a 3-1 count.

Poz is one of the better writers when it comes to using stats to make a point, but he really cut the corner on this one in order to increase his shock value. The problem with BP is not that he refuses to take a walk even at a 3-ball count. The problem is that he can be too aggressive to the point that he doesn’t let himself get into 3-ball counts.

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