6-8-2025 – By Michael Castrignano – @412DoublePlay on X
The Pirates will try once more for their first sweep of the season, one of the few teams in MLB who have yet to achieve this feat. To do that, they’ll need to go through Cristopher Sanchez, who has been one of the best starting pitchers in the National League this season.
Sanchez enters today’s affair with a 5-1 record and 3.15 ERA over 65.2 innings pitched. His 10.14 K/9 ranks 8th highest in the National League as he has accrued 74 strikeouts thus far this season but has is prone to fits of wildness with 26 walks, 4 hit batters and 4 wild pitches as well.
He last faced the Pirates on July 20th last year, allowing 2 runs over 5.2 innings of work in a 4-1 Pirates victory but he’s been a bit of a different pitcher since I last previewed him.
Sanchez is less of a pitch-to-contact arm as he is effectively missing bats and racking up Ks though he is still generating ground-balls at an excellent rate similar to his fellow rotation southpaw, Ranger Suarez.
After lowering his arm slot slightly, Sanchez is fooling hitters more often with his mid-90s sinker, mid-80s changeup and low-80s slider – keeping the ball low in the zone to limit fly balls but also increasing his whiff rate across the board.
He will typically use the sinker/slider against lefties with the slider specifically being most effective with a .099 wOBA in those matchups. For righties, he unconventionally will pair his changeup with his sinker but he’s gotten big results with the pitch.
Opposing hitters have struck out 42 times against Sanchez’s changeup this season as it has been a dangerous offering from the 28-year old southpaw but his sinker is being hit at a .265 clip by lefties and a .312 clip by righties.
His slider, in the few occasions he has used it against righties, has been even less effective for him, resulting in 4 of his 7 home runs surrendered while righties are batting .409 against the pitch.
Bucs bats should be patient at the plate given Sanchez’s 3.56 BB/9 rate and aforementioned wildness have resulted in a 1.31 WHIP for him this year, the 10th highest among qualified NL starting pitchers. And, among those pitchers, he has maintained the highest strand rate, which seems unsustainable long-term if he continues allowing as many baserunners as he has.
Stay in the box and work the count the same way they did early against Suarez yesterday. Attack the sinker, spit on the changeup and find a way to secure the series sweep!
Steel City Pirates 