Strengths & Weaknesses Within the NL Central
After a long, cold winter, we’re getting awfully close to Opening Day 2015. The National League Central looks to be one of the more competitive divisions in baseball this season — all five teams could...
View ArticleBreaking Down the Josh Harrison Contract Extension
On Monday, Josh Harrison returned to his hometown of Cincinnati to make his first Opening Day start, collecting two hits (including a double off Johnny Cueto) and picking up where he left off in 2014....
View ArticleCaminero, Melancon & Early Velocity Changes
You really don’t want to read too much into stats this time of year — we’re not even 10 games into the new season, and everyone should know that anything can happen in that small of a sample. We’re...
View ArticleStarling Marte & The Longest Home Runs at PNC Park
Entering Friday’s game, Starling Marte had collected just three hits in his first 29 bats of the 2015 season while carrying a hideous 42.4% strikeout rate. He was bumped down to the sixth spot of the...
View ArticleBucco Bullpen Report 4/23/15
A look at the Pirates’ bullpen usage through 16 games. Green = good, relative to the rest of the bullpen; red = bad. – Tony Watson, as usual, has 1) been good and 2) been relied upon. Tied for the...
View ArticleOff-Day Graphics: Cole, Cutch, Discipline, Velo
Some random stats/graphics on the Pirates’ off-day… – Tweeted one this last night… Gerrit Cole‘s career line through 46 starts: 3.27 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 8.6 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 And he’s been just dominant in his...
View ArticlePirates Farm Report: April 2015
Checking in on the Pirates’ affiliates through the first month of the season… Indianapolis Indians (12-10) Batting: Pitching: Noteworthy: Big John Holdzkom has been struggling with his command big...
View ArticleAndrew McCutchen’s Loss of the Line Drive
Andrew McCutchen is not himself right now — there’s no other way to put it. He says he’s fine. The team says he’s fine. He’s not fine: he’s batting .188/.279/.292 and has been a below replacement...
View ArticleThe Pitch That Josh Harrison Can’t Hit
Yesterday, we looked at the recent struggle of Andrew McCutchen, particularly how he’s not getting the explosiveness to turn on line drives like he usually does. Today, we’ll focus on the other vital...
View ArticleBaseball’s Best Starting Pitching Trios
*Apologies for the lack of content as of late — I have recently started an internship at Baseball Info Solutions. Coverage here may be slow this summer, but we’ll try to update the site and our...
View ArticleAppreciating Jung-Ho Kang’s Rookie Season
View image | gettyimages.com Unfortunately, there’s some bad news in the ‘Burgh: Jung-Ho Kang, the Pirates’ exciting Korean infielder, is out for the season. First reported by Dejan Kovacevic, Kang...
View ArticleClinched: How the 2015 Pirates made it back to Buctober
View image | gettyimages.com It’s official: with a victory over the Rockies on Wednesday night, the Pirates have sealed their third consecutive playoff berth. Yes, it’s the third year in a row that...
View ArticleThe 2015 Pirates in Five Charts
View image | gettyimages.com Six months of baseball are in the books, and they were six good ones: the Pirates’ 98 wins leave them as one of the best regular season clubs in franchise history. As good...
View ArticleWinter is Coming: Pittsburgh Pirates Offseason Outlook
View image | gettyimages.com First, a word on Wednesday: sigh. Jake Arrieta and the Cubs completely shut down and killed the Pirates’ 2015 season, a result that was not totally unexpected (considering...
View ArticlePirates’ Pace-of-Play Patterns in 2015
View image | gettyimages.com Major League Baseball’s pace-of-play initiatives were a major storyline heading into the 2015 season. In an effort to cut down on the league’s exceedingly long game times,...
View ArticleRanking the 2016 Free Agent Starting Pitchers
Major League Baseball free agency kicks off this weekend, as free agents can begin negotiating with teams at 12:01 am on Saturday. This winter, the Pirates are in the market for at least one starting...
View ArticleUnder the Knife: The Pirates & Tommy John Surgery
Sadler is the latest Tommy John victim. On Thursday, it was announced that Casey Sadler underwent Tommy John surgery in October to reconstruct the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching elbow. The...
View ArticleMLB Win Curve in the Expanded Wild Card Era
View image | gettyimages.com Major League Baseball has now used a 10-team, two-Wild-Card postseason format for four years. Expanding the playoff field by two teams — one from each league — has...
View ArticleVisualizing the Range of the Pirates’ Outfield in 2015
View image | gettyimages.com – One of my favorite posts last year was my first attempt at visualizing the range of the Pirates’ outfield. Thus, I wanted to take another crack at it for 2015. Using the...
View ArticleJ.A. Happ & Market Rate
Last night, the Blue Jays signed J.A. Happ to a three-year, $36 million contract to return to Toronto. That takes one option off the board for the Pirates this offseason, as they look to fill the open...
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