7-20-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
After a surprising comeback victory last night, the Pirates are on the fun side of .500 for the first time since April 24 and just 0.5 games back of the final wild card.
But, the season doesn’t end today and still, we fight on, as the Pirates look for their 6th straight win facing All Star southpaw, Cristopher Sanchez.
Last time around, Sanchez went 6 frames of 4-hit, 2-run (1 earned) ball with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts.
With a 2.96 ERA that is 11th best in MLB but somehow just 3rd best in his own rotation, Sanchez has provided solid production over his 103.1 innings of work this season.
Sanchez is a pitch-to-contact arm who limits hard contact. His barrel rate (4.9%) is the 4th lowest in that category and average exit velocity (87.4 MPH) is 14th best.
He also racks up a TON of ground-balls, ranking 3rd among qualified starters in GB rate at 59.9% while also posting the best chase rate among starting pitchers at 35.7% – mostly leading to batters softly rolling over the ball.
He features a 3-pitch mix: a mid-90s sinker and both a changeup and slider in the mid-80s. He works low in the zone with all of his offerings but has one clear BEST pitch.
His changeup has been ELITE this season, with opposing hitters having no chance against the pitch. His oBA (.166) is 3rd lowest in MLB with minimum 100 plate appearances for the pitch while his oSLG (.185) is the lowest among all changeups in baseball.
Given the dominance by Sanchez’s changeup, Bucs batters will want to lock in on heat. The sinker is thrown nearly half the time (47.7%) and has been hit at a .343 clip while slugged at a .436 rate, only generating swings-and-misses 10% of the time – compared to 38.5% for the changeup and 29.5% for the slider, for that matter.
Attack hanging sinkers, lay off anything offspeed and get to Sanchez early. Team managed to beat up on one of their aces in Nola last night. Let’s see if they can do it again.
Let’s Go Bucs!
Steel City Pirates 