Dave Cameron looks at the relationship between pitches in the strike zone and power of the batter. Do pitchers avoid the strike zone only against power hitters?

Patient hitters can absolutely take advantage of this flaw in order to get themselves into better hitters counts, even if they lack intimidating power. A patient approach at the plate may come with a byproduct of taking strikes from time to time, but it will more often involve hitters not swinging at pitches out of the strike zone, and the net gain is significantly positive.

There’s just no evidence to support the idea that batters being selective in what they swing at is “dangerous” or is producing sub-optimal results relative to a more aggressive approach at the plate. Good hitters swing at strikes, bad hitters swing at balls. There are a few notable exceptions, but if you want to have a good line-up, you’ll do a lot better collecting “Moneyball” type of hitters than going the other direction.

La Russa’s thinking on this point could be one reason he’s no longer managing the Athletics.