I'll assume Castellanos will bat behind him giving less reasons for opposing pitchers to pitch around him.
Intentional Walks (A sign that they are being pitched around)
2009 = M. Cabrera 14, C. Granderson 4
2010 = M. Cabrera 32, B. Boesch 5
2011 = M. Cabrera 22, A. Avila 9
2012 =
P. Fielder 18, M. Cabrera 17
2013 =
M. Cabrera 19. V. Martinez 10
2014 =
V. Martinez 28, M. Cabrera 10
2015 = M. Cabrera 15, V. Martinez 8
2016 = M. Cabrera 15, V. Martinez 8
2017 = M. Cabrera 6, J.D. Martinez 5
2018 = N. Castellanos 5, V. Martinez 4
Career High IBB by Player:
**BOLD = CURRENT TIGERS**
M. Cabrera = 32
P. Fielder = 32
V. Martinez = 28
N. Cash = 19
K. Gibson = 16
B. Freehan = 15
D. Evans = 14
J. Mercer = 13
A. Kaline = 12
W. Horton = 11
J.D. Martinez = 11
T. Hunter = 10
C. Lemon = 9
L. Whitaker = 9
J. Upton = 9
J. Northrup = 9
A. Avila = 9
Y. Cespedes = 8
A. Trammell = 8
D. McAuliffe = 8
M. Stanley = 8
L. Parrish = 7
D. Wert = 7
G. Brown = 6
L. Herndon = 6
J. Peralta = 6
N. Castellanos = 5
A. Jackson = 4
R. Oyler = 4
T. Brookens = 3
O. Infante = 3
J. Harrison = 2
I. Kinsler = 2
J. Iglesias = 2
C. Maybin = 2
J. Candelario = 1
N. Goodwin = 1
M. Mahtook = 1
J. Hicks = 0
J. Jones = 0
A. Gose = 0
J. McCann = 0
Mercer traditionally batted 8th in the NL, and they walked him to get to the pitcher.
If you actually think a pitcher is going to pitch to Cabrera because Castellanos is hitting behind him, then I think you are overvaluing Castellanos.
And yes, there is a correlation between IBB and whether a pitcher will pitch to someone. When Cabrera had 32 IBB in a season, the next on the team was Boesch. When he had V. Martinez, when he was good, hitting behind him, he still had high IBB, just not as many.
TOP 5 for 2018
1. M. Trout 25
2. K. Schwarber 20
3. M. Machado 18
4. M. Carpenter 17
5. B. Harper 16
