Seems like everyone says that are farm system is horrible. Is some of it though because Obrien made some edicts that set them up to perform badly?
If every batter had to take the 1st pitch - it was in the papers so other teams knew - why wouldn't an oposing pitcher just throw a strike down the middle and start everyone with a 0-1 count? So they get 1 more strike thats it, of course they would have lower batting average, walks etc.
Also the tandem pitching, strict counts, pitch to contact probably played with the heads of the pitchers.
I'm not saying that we have an incredible farm system but maybe they aren't the worst in the league either.