[11larkin11]

Sure, pitchers fear Miguel Cabrera's power when he steps up to the plate, no question.

But I think people may be severely underestimating the fear a pitcher has of a guy like Billy Hamilton on first base.

Throw up a cement mixer that goes over the wall, oh well, its one pitch, worry about the next one. Throw over to first 5 times, do a pitchout, then have Hamilton steal second and third? That really grinds a pitcher's gears and gets in his head, and can even cause a riff between batterymates.

What does all that mean? I think his walk rate could go down, but he's going to get better pitches to hit. He just needs to continue progress becoming a better hitter. I think his loss in Walks for OBP will be matched by his increase in AVG