The Mets' Lucas Duda smartly watches a pitch go by. Getty Images

PHILADELPHIA—The Mets probably won't finish the season with an impressive batting average. They might not hit many home runs, either.

To compensate, the Mets seem content with taking an unorthodox approach at the plate: They just won't swing.

Watching boatloads of pitches whiz by might not look pretty, but for the Mets it just might work. They entered Tuesday's game against the Phillies leading baseball with 34 walks. So even though they ranked 13th in hits, the Mets have somehow emerged as one of the game's most prolific offenses so far—chiefly because of their unyielding dedication to standing there and doing nothing.

Whether the Mets can sustain this level of production is another story, but their success so far raises an important question: Are the Mets a patient team? Or have they simply faced pitchers who can't throw strikes? At this point, the numbers bode well for the rest of the year.

"It's our philosophy that we're not going up there swinging out of control and getting ourselves out early in the count," Mets third baseman David Wright said. "'Patiently aggressive' is a good way to describe it."

History shows that teams that walk a lot tend to win a lot. In the past 10 years, the team that had the most walks finished the season with an average final record of 95-67.

The Mets have taken that to heart. According to the baseball statistics website FanGraphs, 49.4% of pitches thrown to the Mets this season were deemed to be in the strike zone—fifth-most in baseball. Nonetheless, they had swung at only 60.8% of those strikes, which ranked 26th.

That discrepancy indicates that Mets hitters make a conscious effort to work the count, even if it means taking a strike.

Furthermore, the data suggest that no team has a better understanding of the difference between a strike and a ball than the Mets. They have swung at only 21.6% of pitches outside the strike zone—the best mark in baseball.

In other words, the Mets won't swing at bad pitches. This not only leads to walks, but it also frustrates opposing starting pitchers. Entering Tuesday, no starter had lasted more than six innings against the Mets, usually undone by a high pitch count

"The walks are a byproduct of your approach, and another byproduct of that approach is seeing a lot of pitches," said outfielder Mike Baxter, who walked four times in his first 12 plate appearances this season. "When you can get to the bullpen in the middle of the game, your odds of winning increase."

Mets general manager Sandy Alderson made his name as an executive with the Oakland Athletics, where he served as the mentor to influential general manager Billy Beane. His philosophy revolves, in part, around bases on balls, and he has attempted to construct a roster that fits that ideal.

Walking this much doesn't just take patience, however. It also requires a knack for spoiling certain pitches, being able to foul them away instead of rolling over them for weak ground balls. Manager Terry Collins called that ability "one of the keys to hitting." When the Mets swing, they make contact 81% of the time, which ranks seventh overall.

Still, the Mets hitters insist they don't try to walk—even if it sometimes looks like they do.

"I've never heard anybody say, 'Just take pitches,'" Baxter said. "It's easy to think that's the case sometimes, but it's really not. It's really just trying to get something you can drive, regardless of the count."

Write to Jared Diamond at