STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Pirates relievers have been through the fire this season. Where does the spark ignite? At first pitch, perhaps?
For the season, the team's relief unit as a whole ranks 21st out of the 30 MLB clubs with a 59.1 percent F-Strike rate, or percentage of first pitches in a plate appearance that are thrown for a strike, be it via the called or swinging varieties, and foul balls.
At first glance, this may not seem like that big of a deal. Several of the team's relief pitchers certainly have the stuff to get back into counts.
But, others don't.
Before we get into individual performance on first pitch, let's look at how the Pirates relievers perform as a unit, using batting average and wOBA as guides:
Pirates relievers carry a batting average against of .430 on 0-0 counts along with a .500 wOBAThe data shows that the club's relievers are susceptible at first pitch, with a .430 batting average against buoyed by a .500 wOBA. How does this look on an individual level?
Pirates relievers on first strikeHere we see just about what you might expect. The current 25-man Pirates relievers with the best swing and miss stuff -- Felipe Vazquez and Francisco Liriano, chiefly -- carry the best whiff rates overall at 14.1 and 14.3 percent, respectively, but they too can be had at first pitch. Kyle Crick is a curious case, as his 12.9 percent swinging strike rate is third-best on the club, yet he struggles to get to 0-1.
Of course, these numbers are merely indicative of how these relievers start their plate appearances, not how they finish them. Obviously, the latter is the most important. So what kind of effect can these low first-strike totals have, if any?
Let's find out.
Full look at F-Strike leaders on the Pirates, along with other statisticsThough they rank in the bottom third as a team, Pirates relievers carry a first strike percentage that is actually pretty close to the MLB average, which does not fluctuate all that much year-over-year. The same stays true for the other stats listed here, and in fact the PBC's relief unit strikes out a bit more batters than the average.
Some other takeaways:
· Reverse splits are seen with Kyle Crick, Michael Feliz and Geoff Hartlieb. While all other Pirates relievers benefit from getting to 0-1, these three seemingly suffer from it. Harlieb had a vicious enough slider to get him back into counts, with a 31.27 percent whiff-per-swing rate on the pitch ...when it wasn't getting tagged of course. He started out his MLB career with a .400 batting average against on the pitch in May, lowering it to .333 in June before being sent back down to Indianapolis. Though Feliz has the reverse intended effect of getting to 0-1, the difference is negligible at best. In Crick's case, we could posit that hitters know his slider is coming -- he uses it 52.4 percent of the time on 0-1 -- proving that game planning is just as important in the batter's box as it is on the mound. Still, you'll take a .197 BAA overall any day of the week.
· Liriano and Richard Rodriguez absolutely need to get to 0-1, as their numbers after a first strike are highly desirable in relation to 1-0. Liriano has the stuff to get back into counts. Rodriguez, for a lengthy stretch, did not. His fastball was missing the late life it showed last year, and his slider didn't bite. It's no wonder, then, that his strikeout percentage is the lowest of this group.
· Vazquez is, well, unaffected by what hitters do to him on the first pitch. He's still going to bring it, and bring it well. It's hard to argue with striking out 37.5 percent of your batters, after all.
Getting to first strike is always a good idea. But for the early- to middle-inning Pirates relievers, it might take on even greater importance.
MORE MOUND VISIT
July 17: Who chases best?
July 16: A Marte appreciation post
July 15: Williams’ confounding season
July 12: What’s eating Crick’s slider?
