How poor are they who have not patience!  What wound did ever heal but by degrees? –William Shakespeare, “Othello”

If you talk to certain Cub fans, or get a steady diet of Len and Bob, the conventional wisdom is that this year’s Fukudome-inspired Cubs are more patient.  We take more pitches, get better pitches to hit, and get on base more.  Let’s look at some data.  Here are Cubs’ pitches per plate appearance over the last few years:

Player    2008  2007  2006
Fukudome  4.39   --    --
Edmonds   4.20  3.89  4.07
Fontenot  4.08  3.93   --
Ramirez   4.07  3.67  3.71
Lee       3.99  4.02  4.45
Soto      3.94  3.90  3.38
DeRosa    3.91  3.96  3.70
Theriot   3.73  3.53  3.65
Soriano   3.52  3.67  3.90

Ramirez, Theriot, Edmonds, and Fontenot all got noticeable bumps from ‘07 to ‘08.  The rest stayed roughly the same, with Soriano falling off a bit.  (Fukudome is currently third in #P/PA in MLB, behind Swisher and Dunn.)  So, maybe there is some truth to the theory.

As far as overall team stats go, the Cubs are on pace for 655 walks this season and a .360 OBP (both 1st in the NL), versus 500 BB and .333 OBP in 2007 (15th and 9th), and 395 BB and .319 OBP in 2006 (both last).