Starter Spotlight: Southpaw Showdown

7-24-24 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X

After a heart-wrenching loss last night, the Pirates will look to win the rubber match today, sending veteran lefty, Martín Pérez, who will face off against fellow southpaw Matthew Liberatore in what will likely be a bullpen game for the visiting Red Birds.

Liberatore has bounced between the rotation and bullpen for St. Louis this season with a distinct difference in performance between the two situations.

As a reliever, Liberatore’s opponents are posting a .235/.302/.322 slash line with 2 home runs and 4 doubles compared to a .260/.304/.521 slash line with 4 long balls and 7 two-baggers when he starts the game.

His last start, however, was a successful one where he shutdown the Atlanta Braves for 6 innings of 2-hit ball with 1 walk and 8 strikeouts. He also threw a season-high 85 pitches in the June 26th game but hasn’t exceeded 50 pitches in an outing since so hard to say how long he’ll be on the bump, particularly if he has another effective outing.

Liberatore has a handful of pitches he throws out there but mainly utilizes his mid-90s sinker and 4-seamer, alongside his main weapon: a high-80s slider, which is arguably one of the best in baseball.

He typically runs the slider down and away from right-handed hitters while working up and in with the four-seam and sinker. These three offerings comprise over 75% of his total pitches.

Additionally, he mixes in a low-90s cutter, high-70s curve and high-80s changeup with nearly all of his pitches working up in the zone.

Based on face-value and expected metrics, his slider and curve are the pitches to lay off as each have a sub-.200 BA/xBA as well as sub-.300 SLG/xSLG but the other offerings have been far less successful for the young lefty.

Hitters should look to attack heat early in counts as he tries to get ahead of hitters and battle back against the breaking stuff when down in counts.

Liberatore has below average strikeout (19.6%) and walk (8.1%) rates so be patient, be ready for heat when your pitch comes and get the series win today.

Let’s Go Bucs!