Pittsburgh Pirates Will See Better Swing-and-Miss Stuff With Promotions

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ recent wave of prospects might show a slight change in their pitching philosophy.

When Tyler Glasnow makes his debut today, he will bring a 10.6 K/9 rate in 2016 with him. That figure is actually a tick below his career minor league rate of 11.5.

Not to be outdone, his counterpart Jameson Taillon posted an 8.9 K/9 in 2016 to go along with a stout 10.17 SO/W ratio.

These two pitchers, along with their counterparts in Nick Kingham and Steven Brault may represent a new thinking in philosophy for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Pitching to Contact is So 2015

As the Pittsburgh Pirates were building their farm system and inching their way back into competitiveness, they made a living of pitching inside and using the defense . Pitching to contact was not only encouraged, but was planned for with a radical change in defensive alignment and schemes.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”#000000″ class=”” size=””]Staying within the Hurdle era, the team has posted a 9.3 swinging-strike percentage. That is good for 13th in the NL[/perfectpullquote]

Pitchers such as Charlie Morton, Brandon Cumpton, Jeff Locke and Bryan Morris all saw excellent ground ball rates during these early renaissance days.

None of them are or were anything close to strikeout pitchers. Still, the club was successful in inducing ground balls. This got them around the lack of a natural-born “strikeout pitcher.” Despite their best efforts, A.J. Burnett‘s and Francisco Liriano‘s swing and miss tendencies were not enough for the Pirates to rank among the National League’s elite strikeout pitching staffs.

In fact, over the entire Clint Hurdle era, the club ranks 13th in the NL with a 7.43 K/9 rate. They also rank first in ground ball rate over that time with 48.8 percent, reinforcing the team’s philosophies.

Something New, Something Old?

With Glasnow and Taillon’s strikeout ability – not to say anything of Brault and Kingham, who have plus-rated swing and miss pitches – the Pittsburgh Pirates may now be entertaining a new pitching philosophy. This new emphasis on the ability to get hitters to miss results from some truly putrid figures over the years.

Staying within the Hurdle era, the team has posted a 9.3 swinging-strike percentage. That is good for 13th in the NL over that span. This includes a 14th place rate of 8.8 percent in 2016.

The lack of the swing and miss ability might have been able to be swept under the rug five years ago, but in today’s MLB it would be seen front and center. Many teams have caught up to advanced scouting. Every team has an analysis department that is as good or better than every other team. In this light, teams can sit on the Pirates’ offerings inside or down in the bottom half of the zone.

We see this manifest itself with Liriano, who has seen nearly a five percent drop in swinging strike year-over-year. We see it with Jon Niese, who was never billed as a strikeout pitcher but carries a 7.1 percent rate. Even Gerrit Cole has seen a two percent drop.

When hitters don’t offer, the next pitch is the one most affected. Forcing the pitcher to throw a pitch he’d rather not throw is Baseball 101. This year, the Pirates’ opponents have done a very good job at doing just that.

A Melding Of Philosophies

Of course, just because most of the Pittsburgh Pirates starting rotation as constructed before Taillon’s promotion did not have true swing and miss stuff working for them, that is no reason for a complete change in approach. Rather, the influx of pitchers with better “stuff” could enhance that philosophy. With some true whiff pitches in their tool belts, Ray Searage‘s charges might lose even more reticence about hitting traditional contact spots.

The desired effect here may not be to end the at-bat with a strikeout, but have an even better chance of getting into favorable counts, with the strikeout stuff to fall back on in either scenario.

And of course, if hitters get ahead, pitchers with this ability can always use it to get back into the at-bat.

It is possible that we may be overthinking this. Pitchers who can get hitters to miss consistently are always highly sought after. But for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the ability of this new wave of starting pitchers can bring something new to go along with something old.

 

Featured Image Credit – Daniel Decker Photography