2016 Pittsburgh Pirates Series Preview – Snakes in the Grass

After dropping the opening series of their first West Coast road trip in 2016, the Pittsburgh Pirates travel to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks.

It was a disappointing start to the club’s first West Coast trip of 2016, but the Pittsburgh Pirates will press on. They next travel to Chase Field to face the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three-game set.

Over the off-season, the Diamondbacks made radical changes to their club, landing one of the premiere free agents in all of baseball in Zack Greinke. They traded one of their top prospects away for Shelby Miller, and bolstered their bullpen with the acquisition of Tyler Clippard.

The Pirates will avoid Greinke and Miller during this series, and will also avoid A.J. Pollock – who is on the shelf with a severe elbow injury. Going into 2016, Pollock was thought to pair well with Paul Goldschmidt to carry this team’s offense. Perhaps due to Pollock’s absence and some early-season scuffling by the headline starting pitchers, the D-Backs have scuffled a bit of out of the gate. The Pittsburgh Pirates might just be catching them at the right time, though Arizona has won five straight games.

Pitching Matchups

Game One: LHP Jon Niese (2-0, 3.50 ERA) vs. LHP Patrick Corbin (1-1, 2.75 ERA)

Game Two: RHP Juan Nicasio (2-1, 4.80 ERA) vs. RHP Rubby De La Rosa (1-3, 8.44 ERA)

Game Three: LHP Francisco Liriano (1-1, 4.11 ERA) vs. LHP Robbie Ray (1-0, 1.96 ERA)

Pitching Matchup Analysis

This is an interesting slate of pitchers in that two all-left handed matchups sandwich the right-handers in the middle of three-gamer. The Pirates saw their first start against a left handed starter in the Padres series, and it was not a successful outing for the club’s all-right handed lineup.

The good news is that neither Corbin nor Ray profile in the same manner as Drew Pomeranz. Pomeranz was able to mystify Pirates hitters with a curveball. Corbin and Ray both do not rely on the curve much if at all, but rather pitches with sharper movement. The Pirates should be able to square up quite a bit more balls against these lefties than they could against Pomeranz.

Pirates hitters against Corbin

There is quite a bit of unfamiliarity between Corbin and Pirates hitters. It’s always interesting to see who gets the advantage in these situations. With the team’s new patient approach, one would have to think the advantage would go to the Pirates.

Pirates hitters against De La Rosa

De La Rosa seemingly owns the Pittsburgh Pirates, but there is still a level of unfamiliarity to be had here. De La Rosa has struggled mightily to start the season, and it’s easy to think that the Pirates can get to him early and often.

Pirates hitters against Ray

Hitter to avoid – Paul Goldschmidt

Pardon us for taking the easy way out, but with Pollock’s absence and Jake Lamb‘s lack of plate appearances versus Pirates pitchers, Goldschmidt is the obvious choice. This becomes especially true after looking at “Goldy’s” performance against Juan Nicasio.

Nicasio will be looking to solidify his spot in the Pirates’ starting rotation, and it will be interesting to see if familiarity will breed something more than what has been seen between the hurler and the Diamondbacks’ best hitter.

As we said at the top, the Pirates may be seeing the Diamondbacks at the right time. Though they have won five straight games, they are doing so with smoke and mirrors. Avoiding both Greinke and Miller is a huge advantage for the Pirates. With the surprisingly-steady Niese going for the Bucs along with Liriano and Nicasio, the Pittsburgh Pirates should be able to take two out of three against the snakes.

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