In the his limited big-league experience, Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks has already shown why he is considered to be the team's top hitting prospect.

Saturday night against the Twins, Weeks hit a long home run to left field in the first inning, a blast overshadowed by fellow rookie Prince Fielder's more dramatic shot later in the game. Weeks also laced a triple down the right-field line and scored a second run to help the Brewers inch closer to an eventual 7-6 victory.

But it's not Weeks' .308 average or even his four extra-base hits that has impressed me the most thus far. My favorite facet of Weeks' early play has been his patience at the plate.

Weeks has already drawn nine walks in just 64 total plate appearances (he's also logged 3 additional hit by pitches). That may sound modest, but it's an impressive ratio, especially for a highly rated slugger in his first three weeks of major-league at bats.

Only two Brewers hitters have a better walk/plate appearance percentage, Russell Branyan (16.24 percent) and Lyle Overbay (15.67 percent). If placed among the top 50 in overall bases on balls, Weeks' percentage would rank 17th in all of baseball, just behind Gary Sheffield, whose menacing batting style seems to have inspired Weeks' bat-waggling stance. At 19.09 percent, David Dellucci has the best walk/PA ratio among the leaders in base on balls; Overbay is 11th.

While Weeks' home run and triple were far more memorable, a walk he drew in the fifth inning was just as central to Milwaukee's come-from-behind victory. With men on first and second and one out, Weeks worked Johan Santana for a six-pitch walk to load the bases for Bill Hall and Carlos Lee. Lee's double on an 0-2 pitch made it 5-4 Minnesota, paving the way for Fielder's go-ahead homer in the sixth.

Of course, the youngster is still a work in progress. Joe Nathan got Weeks to chase a 3-2 breaking ball in the ninth inning of Sunday's game, a pitch that could have resulted in a bases-loaded situation with one out. And Weeks has fanned 16 times since getting called up, an even one out of every four PAs.

However, high strikeout totals are to be expected until Weeks settles in. Teammate Bill Hall's development is illustrative of that fact. Hall was a strikeout machine in 2004, whiffing 119 times in 415 PAs (28.67 percent). But Hall has been far more disciplined in 2005, with a ratio of 17.67 percent. That number is still a tad high, but Hall's improvement in other offensive categories is a direct result of better plate discipline.

Prior to his promotion to Milwaukee, Weeks had walked 28 times in 203 at bats at AAA Nashville. Adding walks to ABs, Weeks was walking 12.12 percent of the time (not including other non-AB plate appearances, such as HBP or sacrifices). And he was whiffing at a slightly lower (but still high) rate than he is in Milwaukee (51 times in 203 ABs).

In other words, Weeks still has some work to do. But when you compare his early start to that of other Brewers stars, his walk numbers look even better. Paul Molitor walked just 19 times in 500+ plate appearance as a 21-year-old rookie. Robin Yount had just 12 walks in more than 350 PAs in his first year. And Carlos Lee also had only 12 walks in just over 500 PAs as a rookie in 1999.

While none of that trio was or is a great "walker", all were or are exceptional hitters. Weeks is expected (or hoped) to be in that category, too. So far, there's no reason to expect he won't be.

Speaking of Walks: I know what you're thinking: get over the walks thing, already. You may have a point, but my logic behind emphasizing walks is simple. What is the most important stat in baseball, bar none? It's not slugging percentage, or OBP or even OPS. It's runs. The team with the most runs wins, and the player that scores or drives in the most runs is therefore the most valuable offensively.

Likewise, the more one walks, the more one is likely to score -- which is why OBP is a more valuable stat than batting average, though the Sunday paper is always likely to list the Top 10 hitters rather than on-base leaders. Really, they should list the top 10 run producers, combining runs and RBIs (minus homers). But I digress.

What I've been building up to is this: don't give up on J.J. Hardy as a hitter just yet. Hardy could use some more seasoning at AAA, as he's hitting just .180 through 177 PAs. But his OBP is a much more palatable .289 because he's walked 23 times. Once he can combine his plate knowledge with an aggressive mentality, his other key offensive stats should rise in kind.