This is what I first thought when I saw this topic to be honest, and while I think this is true in the manga series (yes, I know that the manga character is Red not Ash, but they're each other's counterparts so for the sake of argument I'm just going to use both names interchangably) I don't understand why they keep making him restart every series in the anime, it isn't like he is trying to collect all pokemon in the anime when you compare this to the manga where he was capturing Fearow, Gyarados, all sorts of cool, strong pokemon. I mean, Ash in the anime doesn't even EVOLVE bulbasaur and squirtle! Surely if he was trying to collect all data on all pokemon he would be evolving starter pokemon he already had??
I've never really understood why Ash has a tendancy to release/leave behind his pokemon when he moves on to a new region. Perhaps he does just want to raise different teams and have the different experiences, but to me it just doesn't make much sense. He seems to have these conflicting ideals - collecting all pokemon and beating all leagues - that aren't really compatible when he spends all his time with one team of pokemon, only to abandon them to go onto a new region.
From what I've read, I think the writers need to make a happy medium. By all means, have him catching and raising new pokemon, but please PLEASE POKEMON GODS, bring back his stronger pokemon so he can ACTUALLY WIN ONCE IN A WHILE?? We get the whole 'it's not the winning it's the taking part that counts' message now - it's the same one you've been pushing since 1998.