Starter Spotlight: Walker Buehler

6-6-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X

As the Pirates look for a sweep of the visiting Dodgers, they will face off against Walker Buehler – who is looking to make up for lost time after missing most of 2022 and all of 2023 due to injury and an eventual second Tommy John Surgery.

Only a few years removed from a 2.47 ERA over 207.2 innings pitched, Buehler hasn’t had as easy a time maintaining- or even coming close – to that level of production.

Following his aforementioned All-Star 2021 season where he went 16-4 while leading the National League in games started, he isn’t quite back to getting those kinds of results.

While his velo appears to be back this year, he has started 5 games and allowed at least 3 earned runs in 4 of them, entering today with a 1-3 record, 4.32 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in his first 25 innings pitched.

A big issue for Buehler early on has been the long ball as he’s allowed 6 so far this year and 3 in his last 2 starts.

Looking at his arsenal, Buehler has a diverse mix of pitches. His main pitch is his 4-seam, which sits in the 95-98 range, and he pairs it with a low-90s cutter, high-70s curve, mid-90s sinker, low-80s slider and low-90s changeup – mixing speeds and location to keep hitters off-balance.

Small sample size but his fastball has been BY FAR the least effective offering with opponents slugging .720 against the pitch. His curve has also not been sharp at times, posting an oBA of .400 and having the highest average exit velocity (93.9 MPH) among his options.

He was on a pitch count limit ramping up earlier this season but has thrown 90+ pitches in each of his last two starts so the gloves are off. Hitters need to look for that elevated heater of hanging curve. Lay off the slider down and make him throw you your pitches.

Left-handed hitters have been especially dangerous for Buehler with a 1.016 OPS in 54 plate appearances compared to .653 OPS in 51 times a righty faced him. Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz and Jack Suwinski will look to carry the load and do some damage against Buehler with a chance for a rare series sweep on the line.

Let’s Go Bucs!