This article series examines how various Pittsburgh Pirates players are trending and focuses on two specific players – one that is trending up and one that is trending down.
There are many Pittsburgh Pirates hitters that are stroking the ball right now. Both Andrew McCutchen and Jordy Mercer continue to swing a hot bat and Josh Bell is coming around. However, today we will focus our attention on an improving relief pitcher – Daniel Hudson. In contrast, we will look at the recent struggles of another reliever Wade LeBlanc.
Daniel Hudson is actually Improving
The first thing many of you are thinking about Daniel Hudson is “what about that game winning home run he gave up to the Milwaukee Brewer’s Domingo Santana just a few nights ago”. Maybe you think that one pitch should disqualify him from the up-trending list. Go back and look at that pitch. It was a great fastball that was thrown at least 6 inches outside on a 2-0 count. Santana just put a perfect swing on it and snuck it over the corner of the right field wall. Hudson could throw that pitch ten more times to Santana and he wouldn’t hit another home run, even if he knew it was coming.
Even including that home run, Hudson has given up only 2 earned runs over his last 9 games (since June 7, 2017). Over these 9 games, Hudson has logged 7 innings pitched with 6 strikeouts against only 4 hits and 1 walk. His WHIP of .574 in this timeframe is very good indeed. Compare this to his first two months of action for the Pirates where he gave up 15 earned runs in 22.1 innings of work. He was allowing runners to get on base at such a high rate that his WHIP reached 1.62 by the end of May. Many people felt the former Arizona Diamondback was a bust.
Hudson has turned his game around by going back to what he does best – generating ground balls. The chart below shows Hudson’s ground ball versus fly ball counts for each of the first three months of the season.
*Games played through June 21, 2017
In order to generate those ground balls, Hudson has been leaning much more heavily on his slider in June, throwing it 27% of the time versus only 13% of the time in April. It’s always been his best pitch – batters hit only .250 against it during a disastrous April while his fast ball generated a .355 batting average against. So we are left to wonder why he hasn’t been using it more before now. Whatever the reason, Hudson is throwing more sliders, which is leading to more ground balls and more outs.
Wade LeBlanc Reverse Platoon Split
Being a relief pitcher requires thick skin and a short memory. The best of the best this year can become the worst of the worst next year. Look no further than Jared Hughes’ new Milwaukee Brewers uniform for evidence of this.
Wade LeBlanc is testing his skin thickness as we speak. In the last 6 games played (since June 7, 2017), the lefty has racked up 9 earned runs in only 7.1 innings pitched – an ERA of 11.04 during that span. He hasn’t walked many batters (only one actually) and has struck out 6, but he has allowed 12 hits, including two home runs.
[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Opposing teams are starting to figure out that LeBlanc is a reverse split pitcher.[/perfectpullquote]Things are headed in the wrong direction for LeBlanc. The southpaw was actually quite good in April and May, pitching to a 2.56 ERA in those two months and allowing only 2 home runs over 20 games. So what has changed? Opposing teams are starting to figure out that LeBlanc is a reverse split pitcher – meaning left handed batters hit him better than right handed batters. Lefties are slashing .310/.344/.547 against him this season whereas right handed hitters are only delivering .217/.245/.321. That’s an incredible 300 point difference in OPS.
LeBlanc’s recent results have more to do with facing an increased percentage of left handed hitters than pitch selection or lack of execution. LeBlanc might end up being a reliever that comes into the game to get a couple of key outs against strong right handed hitters.
Trending Up and Down
Despite giving up a high-profile home run, Daniel Hudson has been pitching very solidly the past couple of weeks and his numbers bear this out. He has rediscovered his slider and is starting to live up to the good reputation he had while with the Diamondbacks. Wade LeBlanc is on the other end of the spectrum, where opposing teams have identified his weakness against left handed hitters and are taking advantage. Hopefully for the Pittsburgh Pirates, LeBlanc can be deployed in specific situations where he has the best chance of being successful.
Image credit – Daniel Decker Photography
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