Well, if every walk these guys took actually ended up a hit, we'd be onto something. Let's say that Votto cuts down his walks by 20. That means he's likely, by definition, swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. What's the BABIP going to be on that kind of pitch? .250? .300? Those 20 walks most likely just became into 2 singles, 1 extra-base hit, 2 pop-outs, 2 fly outs (which may or may not advance runners), 3 groundouts (perhaps all three ending in DPs if there are guys on base), and probably 10 strikeouts. Is that really a better outcome?

Edited to remove duplicated text