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Pedro Alvarez vs NL Central pitchers
Recently, I gave an impassioned plea for Pedro Alvarez to be installed as the cleanup hitter for the 2015 Bucs. I made my case through highlighting the myriad ways that the Pirates offense would benefit from such a move. Via the magic that is baseball-reference.com, today I will now show you how Pedro Alvarez historically fares against the opposing pitchers in the hotly-contested NL Central.
Let’s start with the Reds.
The Big Bull vs the Big Red Machine
| Name | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Leake | 51 | 43 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 9 | .279 | .392 | .349 |
| Johnny Cueto | 49 | 43 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 8 | .163 | .224 | .163 |
| Homer Bailey | 33 | 32 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 | .156 | .182 | .406 |
| Manny Parra | 15 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | .143 | .200 | .143 |
| Sean Marshall | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Aroldis Chapman | 9 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Tony Cingrani | 9 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | .333 | .333 | .444 |
| Sam LeCure | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| J.J. Hoover | 6 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .167 | .167 | .167 |
| Burke Badenhop | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .250 | .000 |
| Total | 195 | 178 | 30 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 15 | 60 | .169 | .231 | .236 |
We can plainly see here that Pedro’s performance against current Reds pitchers is lackluster at best. The slashline of .169/.231/.236 is anything but inspiring. There is a silver lining however. Aside form Homer Bailey having his number, Pedro’s strikeout rate against the heavy hitters in the Reds lineup is encouraging. Striking out only 18% of the time against Johnny Cueto is an achievement of its own for the free-swinging bull. While overall the strikeout rate is high at 33.7%, we can look to the numbers against Aroldis Chapman and Tony Cingrani as the culprits. During the games this year against the Reds, Pedro would do well to get to the starting pitching early and often, especially when facing Mike Leake. Keeping Chapman napping in the bullpen without a save opportunity would do wonders for every Pirate.
Next: El Toro against the Beer Makers