4-23-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
As the Pirates look to build off their offensive peak in last night’s game, they will face off against the 6-7 right-handed Jack Kochanowicz, who enters with a 1-2 record and 6.20 ERA over 20.1 innings pitched.
Kochanowicz has strong similarities to yesterday’s starter, Jose Soriano, in that they both throw gas (upper-90s) and rely on a heavy dose of sinkers to get ground-balls – but Jack’s inability to strikeout batters is among the worst in MLB.
Among pitchers with 20+ innings this season, Kochanowicz has the 7th worst K/BB rate and the 4th lowest K%.
He has been bit by some bad luck as his 63% strand rate is on the lower side but when opposing hitters put the ball in play ~80% of the time, balls are bound to fall in and score runs.
Looking at the arsenal, Kochanowicz features a 4-seam and sinker – which comprise 76% of his total pitches – with a high-80s slider and an infrequently used, mid-80s sweeper. But the main ones to look for, like with Soriano, is the fastballs.
Location has been an issue with Jack as he works outside of the zone often and gets hitters to chase (82%) but isn’t able to get whiffs on those swings (10%) to put away hitters.
His 4-seam has been the most effective pitch with opponents batting just .182 against the offering compared to .292 on the sinker and .429 versus the slider.
Hitters will want to attack him early in counts and early in the game. Kochanowicz has a 9.00 ERA first time through lineups this season (compared to 0.93 second time through) while opponents are batting .306 in 0-1 counts and .375 in 0–2 counts.
Look for the elevated sinker or hanging slider and be aggressive at the plate. The Bucs got to Soriano early yesterday to take advantage of a struggling bullpen. If they can repeat that today, they have a chance for a series victory.
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