The Greatest Hits of Pittsburgh Pirates Pitching Wizard Ray Searage

Vance Worley

Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Vance Worley didn’t really have a great track record when he came to the Pirates midway through the 2014 season. He had a very solid rookie campaign with the Phillies, but outside of that, the results were very mixed. He was traded by the Phillies to the Twins and went through a terrible 2013 season, after which, he was quietly traded to the Pirates. That’s where the Pitching Wizard comes in.

Worley’s never had overpowering stuff, so the first thing he changed with the Pirates, was utilizing the two-seem fastball over the four-seem. He was instantly greeted with improved results. Batters had trouble catching up to the movement of the new pitch and it played much faster than it actually was.

Worley also added a knuckle-curve to his repertoire, which really made him an effective Big League pitcher. Couple that with a 90MPH on average fastball and you have a very solid one-two punch for the Vanimal.

WAR Totals before Searage: 2012: 0.9; 2013: -1.2.

WAR Totals w/Searage: 2014: 1.6; 2015: 0.2 *in progress

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• Used standard 4-seem fastball in Philadelphia and Minnesota with poor results.
  • 2012: .294AVG/.378OBP/.411SLG/.789OPS/128wRC+
  • 2013: .373AVG/.420OBP/.549SLG/.969OPS/183wRC+
• 2014: started using 2-seam fastball and knuckle-curveball with very improved results.
  • 2014 2-seam: .265AVG/.301OBP/.338SLG/.640OPS/90wRC+
  • 2014 knuckle-curve: .233AVG/.233OBP/.367SLG/.600OPS/71wRC+

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