I think they know he will not swing at clear balls, but they do want him to take hacks at balls on the fringe of the zone. Pitches that he doesn't think are strikes, that Pitch F/x may not think are strikes, but umps may call strikes. He has enough power to hit those pitches hard enough for them to fall in a bit.
Along these lines, I think he did not draw a walk for his first 50 PAs, then, when the other teams realized what he was doing (it got some publicity in BA, I think), they started pitching him ridiculously out of the zone, and he picked up his 3 walks.
you are right, maybe this does not make sense. I'd really like to know what is going on.
Quite honestly it looks like he falls in with every other AAA hitter. Pitchers at that level know that walks won't get them promoted and attack hitters. When you take into account he went from the Eastern League (.236 ISO) to the PCL(.257 ISO) , his slugging isn't much better.
