Well the first half of the gyms has been action packed, at least for Ash anyway. As well as only being 50 episodes so far.
He has eight region Pokemon + Pikachu (Maybe more on the way).
He's had 2 evolutions, which prior to this series would be unheard of it at this point. Since he's only ever had at most one evolution at this point.
Ignoring Caterpie's super quick evolution in the first series (as well as Charmander's). In Kanto which is the shortest region generation it took until Episode 43 for a starter evolution. Which if you to actual were to do the math was actually near the halfway point and after the 6th gym. So arguably if you want to count Caterpie's quick evolution, Best Wishes and Kanto are technically tied as of now.
In Johto we had to wait for a long time before Chikorita evolved. About 73 episodes, and we haven't even hit that mark yet. Of course Chikorita was the only Pokemon of Ash's to evolve in Johto.
In Hoenn- We had to wait until AG066 before Treecko evolved.
In Sinnoh- Sure there was Starly into Staravia but that was only one and so far aside from Kanto is currently the fastest evolution for a Pokemon on Ash's team. But it took until DP085 for Ash's next evolved Pokemon and LOL at it being Ash's newest team member at that point.
In Unova- While technically the episodes were spaced, Ash evolved two Pokemon back to back by BW023 (taking out the Plasma Rocket episodes). And chances are Ash may very well have another evolved Pokemon by BW066 maybe even prior to Elesa's gym.
So evolution wise, it's pretty jam packed as well.
I think that about covers it for me on Ash's side with captures and evolution.
Now for the 4 gyms in one year? Well I'm hoping that we get two in the next year, and maybe the final 2 in the third year. But the pace might be way too long for some people. So maybe they can have 2 years of gyms. Have the Unova League begin on January 2013 and end by April 2013, begin the filler saga and end whenever the next generation happens.