7-13-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
With a series-opening victory last night, the Pirates will look to keep the momentum going this afternoon against Chris Flexen, who has struggled out of the White Sox rotation with a 4.95 ERA through 91 innings this season.
A bit of a journeyman, Flexen, on his third team in less than a year, has an identical career 4.95 ERA across his 7 MLB seasons but notched quality starts in 3 of his last 4 appearances.
Not a lot to like looking at his metrics as his velocity is among the lowest in MLB. His xERA (4.53) is 14th highest among starting pitchers with 90+ innings pitched and his strikeout rate of 17.2% ranks 8th lowest in that group.
Looking at his pitches, Flexen offers a low-90s 4-seam and high-80s cutter as his main options with a low-80s changeup, low-70s curve and high-70s slider – all of which have fairly pretty poorly overall for the veteran righty.
His fastball has been the most used and most hittable with 8 of his 16 home runs coming courtesy of the pitch. That and the cutter are typically thrown up and outside against LHH – well within reach of someone like Oneil Cruz to make critical impact against either of them.
He’s been especially struggling against LHH at home, with a 1.086 OPS against in those instances and half of his 16 home runs coming in 98 total plate appearances.
Flexen works hard stuff up and soft stuff down so anything spinning and dropping low is typically a breaking pitch. Anything up should be ambushed, especially early in counts. Chance for the Pirates to get a winning streak, a series win and chance for a sweep ahead of the break today!
Let’s Go Bucs!
Steel City Pirates 