Patterson walked 45 times last year. He's walking at a good clip in AAA this year. Before this offseason when they tried to change his swing, his walk rate had increased in every MLB season. I don't know how you can make the claim that he has no walk potential, or was not improving in that aspect of his game. He still has never walked more than 45 times. And I don't really care how many walks he seems to be putting up in AAA, because he's batting like .200. Anyone can decide not to swing as much and increase their walk total, the challenge is doing that without screwing up the other aspects of your game. That's what CPatt just plain lacks. "Talent". This is what I call talent, not speed or power. He is not talented in terms of the ability to make contact or in terms or reaction time. Patterson is 1 for 2 again tonight. As others have said, he started off hitting well, then went into a funk that culminated with him having to take off a few days with some chest illness, which possibly contributed to his funk. Since coming back he's been hitting well and still walking, and he's up to .253. I don't think his lowered average is due to him trying to walk more, in fact, I'd bet that his walks have come in games where he has had the most success.