Again, on both counts, BATTING AVERAGE COUNTS especially when you refer to them as "hitters". Hell, when you refer to "hitting", batting average count more than anything. It's actually the only thing that counts for a "hitter".
A "hitter" doesn't "fuel" his OBP with his batting average. A "hitter" fuels his OBP with walks, Dan Uggla, for example.
If you want to count everything, then use wOBA. It weighs every batting event properly. Based on that, Espinosa is down from last year.
Guys can get a high OBP based on BA. For example Ichiro or Tony Gwynn.
