STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- In looking at Starling Marte's building blocks of an effective season on Tuesday, it sparked a desire in me to look at others in the Pirates' everyday lineup to determine if they are as susceptible to chasing pitches as Marte's reputation suggests. Here's what I found.
As a team, the Pirates chase a bit more than the current MLB average of 28.2 percent, as they go after outside pitches at a 30.3 percent clip. The PBC's bats make just as much contact as the league does on those pitches, with a 60 percent rate, which is right in line with MLB's 59.8 percent mark.
Now let's look at some of the team's biggest offenders and contextualize just what it is they are trying to do at the plate by swinging at these pitches. We'll set the baseline stats for each and then provide one interesting takeaway to help put it all into perspective.
TWO BREAKOUTS
Colin Moran and Kevin Newman are enjoying fine years at the dish; Breakouts, even. Yet both chase the most of this group of Pirates hitters that have seen at least 500 pitches or more. Moran clocks in with a 35.9 percent chase rate, Newman with a 34.6 clip.
A key differentiation between the two comes on chase contact. Newman makes contact on those pitches at a 72.6 percent rate, Moran comes in at just 59.5 percent. All that contact doesn't really do much for Newman, with just a .245 xwOBA on that contact.
An interesting takeaway here is that Newman has most of his chase trouble on a slider, with 75 of his 207 chases coming against the pitch. Moran has a larger sample size to take away from, as his 247 chases are split fairly evenly between four-seamers (27.2 percent) and sliders (21.3 percent).
The takeaway: I put these two together for one other reason. Both saw the most chases when they were ahead in the count -- Moran with 67 percent of his chases coming in that scenario, with Newman close behind at 64.2 percent of his chases. This could tell us that if pitchers need to get back into an at-bat against them, they can still keep things out of the zone while maintaining the likelihood of a strike or weak contact.
THE MELK MAN IS A MAGIC MAN
We need to talk about just how good Melky Cabrera is at chasing with good results. He chases at a flat 33 percent rate and makes contact at an equally flat 72 percent clip.
He's probably right do to so, as his xwOBA on these pitches clocks at an amazing .392. Not to be outdone, his actual wOBA comes in at .462. This is probably fueled by an absolute ability to go down and get it:
Cabrera has historically carried the label of "professional hitter," and it's easy to see why, what with his career 11.8 percent strikeout rate. That's not just good, that's elite.
And yet, it seems you can teach an old dog new tricks. Those xwOBA/wOBA figures I mentioned just above is a bit out of the blue for The Melk Man, as in the four years previous he carried a .265/.264 set of rates.
The takeaway: Go ahead, hurlers. Pitch it wherever you want it. Chances are Cabrera won't whiff at your junk out of the zone, and there's a good chance he might just turn on it.
NO MAN'S LAND FOR KANG
Jung Ho Kang chases at 30.5 percent of his 634 pitches seen, a modest number. Yet he has the lowest chase contact of any Pirates hitter with the prerequisite 500 pitches at just 42.5 percent.
Suddenly, his .187/.241/.427 slash line makes a whole lot of sense. His xwOBA / wOBA falls right in line at .245/.247. He whiffs the most when he chases among this group with a 65.9 percent rate as well. Mostly he whiffs at fastballs, but he is an equal opportunity offender with breaking balls also -- he carries a 51.7 percent chase miss rate on fastballs and a 63.6 percent rate on breakers.
The takeaway: Perhaps we all should have seen this coming. For as good as Kang looked in spring training, the timing was never quite there and, frankly, none of us should have expected it to be. He's always been an unabashed swinger, but Kang now feels entirely too comfortable offering at pitches that won't help him get back on track anytime soon.
MORE MOUND VISIT
July 16: A Marte appreciation post
July 15: Williams’ confounding season
July 12: What’s eating Crick’s slider?
July 11: Frazier’s back, maybe
