Pittsburgh Pirates must stay in attack mode vs first pitches

Perhaps you noticed it last night.

Maybe you’ve seen it all year.

Regardless, it’s become very clear that the Pittsburgh Pirates offense is much more potent when they are in attack mode. Specifically against the first pitch of the at-bat.

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The team has scored the most runs in the NL over the past 30 days (138) despite seeing the fourth-fewest amount of four-seam fastballs in the NL at 57.1%. As we’ve talked about previously, the Pirates are a team that historically does not see many straight heaters. However, over the last 30 days, they have the second-highest linear pitch weight rating in the National League against the four-seamer. That rating is 15.5, with a rating of 0 being average. This as per FanGraphs.

Admittedly without hard data to quantify this point, it became clear to me during last night’s game that teams are looking to sneak in a four-seam fastball early in the count against the Bucs. Hoping to get the Pirates into a 0-1 count early, opposing pitchers are trying to do this without their hands getting caught in the proverbial cookie jar. The Pittsburgh Pirates’ batters have other ideas. I have to give a tip of the hat to @Bhuston_STATS – one of our beloved Twitter followers – for providing us with the following data.  Here is a look at all of the Pirate regulars’ numbers on a 0-0 count (i.e. on the first pitch of an at-bat).

This list offers up some great surprises. First, Andrew McCutchen has the lowest battling line of any Pirate regular and even semi-regular. It’s also very exciting to see the slugging percentage of one Pedro Alvarez. At 1.054 on first pitches this year, it’s clear that the Big Bull is looking for the fastball early and often. Identifying and then punishing hittable pitches at the beginning of each at-bat will hide Alvarez’s strikeout tendencies and allow him to be the big power threat that fans know and love.

Here’s the Pirates’ numbers on a team level for the season-to-date:

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the .BABIP (batting average on balls in play) for this metric is .358, which would suggest that some luck is involved. Yet still the slugging numbers speak for themselves. The Pittsburgh Pirates are in attack mode.

Until their opponents adjust, they should stay there as long as they can. The results speak for themselves, and loudly.

Next: Should the Pirates bring back Travis Snider?