Thanks to the insightful post by thecheeseisblue on plate discipline, I was inspired to review recent Pirates' history and bases on balls. Since N.L. expansion to 16 teams in 1997, the Pirates have ranked no better than 10th in the N.L. in number of walks received. And they have ranked either last or next to last a whopping 7 out of 15 years. This does not include the this present 2012 season and their N.L. worst ranking.

No only do the Pirates as a team walk so infrequently, only 3 different players in the last 15 years have had as many as 80 walks in a season: Andrew McCutchen in 2011 (89); Jason Bay (102 in 2006 and 95 in 2005) and Brian Giles when he was a lone bright spot on some horrendous teams at the turn of the millennium. He accomplished the feat for five consecutive years from 1999-2003 with 95, 114, 90, 135, and 85 walks respectively.

Here's the annual ranking for walks received from 1997-2011 of the 16 N.L. teams:

2011: 11

2010: 15

2009: 14

2009: 14

2007: 16

2006: 15

2005: 14

2004: 16

2003: 10

2002: 12

2001: 16

2000: 12

1999: 11

1998: 16

1997: 16