Longoria not worried about low walk total: ‘Does anyone really care…except analytics people?’

In his 10 seasons with the Rays, Evan Longoria compiled an on-base percentage 71 points higher than his batting average. He walked 569 times for an average of 57 per season.

In his first season with the Giants, Longoria has just four walks in 42 games. His OBP this season is 23 points higher than his batting average.

So is the three-time All-Star worried about not walking much this season?

With our All Access Daily newsletter, stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams!

"Why is everybody making such a big deal about walks? Who cares about walks? Does anyone really care about walks except for the analytics people?" Longoria said while appearing on MLB Network Radio Thursday.

Asked what may be going into his low walk total so far this season, Longoria provided this explanation.

"I'm getting a lot of strikes. We have a lot of good hitters in the lineup, and someone can make the case from their own side that protection in the lineup doesn't matter or you can pull whatever numbers you want out of the sky and tell me it doesn't matter, obviously, if you put Mike Trout in the lineup, it doesn't matter, that guy's going to hit no matter who's in the lineup. But when you have a lineup as deep as ours, you're going to get pitches to hit. There's something to that. I've tried multiple different angles going up there to draw a walk and it seems like everytime I go up there, it's 'Strike one, strike two.' I'm getting attacked and I'm getting pitches to hit. You know, probably in the beginning, I could have drawn a few more, I was chasing a bit more then trying to get it going. But now I'm getting a lot of strikes, there's not a whole lot of at-bats where I go up there and the first three pitches are nowhere close," Longoria said.

Longoria's career-high in walks came in 2011 when he walked 80 times in 133 games. Over the last four seasons, he's averaged 49 walks. At his current pace, it will be tough for Longoria to reach that number.