The Pittsburgh Pirates have a lot of work to do in the second half of the 2016 season, and these three players are primed to do the heavy lifting.
After salvaging their season, the Pittsburgh Pirates will now embark on the last half of their 2016 journey. Just 1.5 games back of the NL Wild Card, the club has a realistic shot at the playoffs. These three players are trending in the right direction to propel the team into the post-All Star break slate.
A returning ace
Gerrit Cole will make his 13th start of the year on Satuday versus the Washington Nationals. It will be his first start since going on the disabled list shortly after his June 10th start.
Cole never quite got on solid footing coming out of spring training, as rib inflammation affected his 2016 build-up. Despite the injury, Cole came largely as advertised. Allowing three earned runs or less in all but one of his 12 starts, Cole had everything more or less working. The lone exception would be his strikeout ability. Cole has had just three starts with strikeouts of seven or more, though this could be a function of elevated pitch counts more than anything else.
I’m bullish on Cole’s second half for several reasons. First, though the rib injury lingered into the regular season, it really did not affect his velocity.
Image courtesy of Brooks Baseball
Not only did Cole’s velocity stay static, the sinking fastball actually gained velocity. While not pictures here, his horizontal and vertical movement retained good movement as well. Cole looked like a different pitcher during his two rehab starts with the Indianapolis Indians. He attacked hitters and threw strikes. Now, with a clean bill of health, Cole can focus on doing just that with Major League hitters.
Our focus now turns onto a Pittsburgh Pirates hitter that has excelled all season long, but is now dialing it up even further.
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