Leaving the Bat on Your Shoulder

Here's an interesting question:

What are the odds of walking if you don't swing at any pitches?

To answer that question I used the Lahman database and play-by-play files from 2003 to look at all plate appearances that were not intentional walks. Here's the answer:

Non IBB PA	

186121	



BB-IBB        Pct

14573        7.8%



BB No Swings  Pct

6842         3.7%



K             Pct

30881       16.6%



K No Swings   Pct

1108	     0.6%

So about one out of 26 plate appearances a batter walks while not offering at a pitch. For this study "offerring" included swinging, bunting, foul tips, missed bunt attempts, swinging at intentional balls, and foul balls. I also found that striking out without offerring is actually more rare and happens only once in 150 plate appearances.